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Linear Growth and Child Development in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Malawi

Elizabeth L Prado1, Souheila Abbeddou2, Seth Adu-Afarwuah3

  • 1Departments of Nutrition, and elprado@ucdavis.edu.

Pediatrics
|July 31, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Childhood growth faltering is linked to poor language and motor skill development. Interventions like developmental stimulation and maternal nutrition may protect against these deficits.

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Pediatric Growth
  • Global Health

Background:

  • Linear growth and child development are critical indicators of health.
  • Understanding the interplay between growth and development is essential for early intervention.
  • Previous research suggests potential links, but quantitative estimates across different developmental periods are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantify the associations between four domains of child development (language, motor, socioemotional, executive function) and linear growth.
  • To examine these associations across three critical periods: prenatal, early infancy, and later infancy.
  • To determine if factors like developmental stimulation and maternal nutritional supplementation attenuate these associations.

Main Methods:

  • A longitudinal study involving 3700 children in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Malawi.
  • Growth was measured from birth to 18 months.
  • Child development domains were assessed at 18 months, with personal-social development assessed in Burkina Faso.

Main Results:

  • Linear growth was significantly associated with language, motor, and personal-social development.
  • Positive associations were observed between language/motor development and length-for-age z scores (LAZ) from birth to 18 months.
  • Associations were weaker in children with high developmental stimulation or mothers receiving nutritional supplementation.

Conclusions:

  • Growth faltering from before birth to 18 months is associated with deficits in language and motor skill development.
  • Developmental stimulation and maternal nutritional supplementation may mitigate the negative impact of growth faltering on child development.
Abstract

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