Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
11:18

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task

Published on: June 1, 2015

Determinants of Catch-up Growth in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Study

Avliya Quratul Marjan1,2, Ratu Ayu Dewi Sartika2, Endang Laksminingsih2

  • 1Nutrition Study Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta, Indonesia.

Acta Medica Philippina
|August 2, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Catch-up growth in early childhood is crucial for preventing stunting. Male sex and maternal nutritional status significantly influence a child's ability to achieve catch-up growth after early life malnutrition.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Public Health
  • Nutrition Science

Background:

  • Early childhood growth failure, particularly in the first 1000 days, significantly impacts long-term health.
  • Stunting, measured by height for age z-score (HAZ), is a key indicator of nutritional problems and impaired linear growth.
  • Catch-up growth is essential for mitigating the adverse effects of early malnutrition and improving linear growth trajectories.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify factors influencing catch-up growth in early childhood.
  • To analyze the relationship between various child, parent, and household factors and catch-up growth based on HAZ.
  • To provide insights for interventions aimed at improving child growth outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • A three-year cohort study utilizing secondary data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS).
  • Inclusion of 537 children aged 0-23 months at baseline (1997), with follow-up data at 3-5 years old (2000).
  • Statistical analyses included Chi-squared tests for bivariate analysis and multinomial logistic regression for multivariate analysis to determine influential factors.

Main Results:

  • Bivariate analysis indicated significant associations between catch-up growth and normal birth weight, normal head circumference, normal maternal nutritional status, and maternal height.
  • Multivariate analysis revealed that male sex (p=0.003) and maternal nutritional status (p=0.011) were the most significant determinants of catch-up growth.
  • Stunting with catch-up growth was more prevalent in males, and poor maternal nutrition was linked to stunting and failed catch-up growth.

Conclusions:

  • Regular monitoring of child growth and development is vital, especially for identifying stunting and facilitating catch-up growth.
  • Interventions targeting maternal nutritional status are crucial for preventing stunting and promoting catch-up growth in early childhood.
  • Factors such as sex, maternal nutritional status, head circumference, breastfeeding, maternal height, and gestational age influence different growth trajectories, including late stunting and failure to catch up.
Abstract

Keywords:
catch-up growthcohort studyearly childhoodstunting

More Related Videos

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Related Concept Videos

Longitudinal Research02:20

Longitudinal Research

Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again...
Population Growth00:57

Population Growth

Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.However, realistic environmental conditions limit the number of...
Longitudinal Studies01:26

Longitudinal Studies

Longitudinal studies are also widely used in other medical and social science fields. For instance, in cardiovascular research, they can monitor patients' health over decades to identify risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or smoking, and evaluate the long-term effectiveness of preventive measures. Similarly, in mental health studies, researchers might follow individuals from adolescence into adulthood to understand the development and progression of conditions like...
The Nativist Approach01:21

The Nativist Approach

The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to exist...
Rate of Change: Problem Solving01:26

Rate of Change: Problem Solving

Temperature-Dependent Growth of Brook TroutThe growth of brook trout is closely influenced by water temperature. Experimental data demonstrate how trout weight changes over a 24-day period in response to varying water temperatures. At lower temperatures, such as 15.5 degrees Celsius, brook trout show significant weight gain. However, as the temperature increases, the amount of weight gained steadily decreases. At the highest temperature measured, 24.4 degrees Celsius, trout experience a net...
Nature and Nurture01:10

Nature and Nurture

Many human characteristics, like height, are shaped by both nature—in other words, by our genes—and by nurture, or our environment. For example, chronic stress during childhood inhibits the production of growth hormones and consequently reduces bone growth and height. Scientists estimate that 70-90% of variation in height is due to genetic differences among individuals, and 10-30% of variation in height is due to differences in the environments that individuals experience, such as differences...