Assessment of Child, Mother, and Environmental Factors Associated with Undernutrition in Children Less than Five Years Old in a Maya Community in Yucatan, Mexico

Authors

  • Joelle C. Glenn College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
  • Heather S. Walden College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
  • Eugenia Guzmán-Marín Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Hideyo Noguchi, Mérida, Yucatán, México
  • María del Refugio Gonzalez-Losa Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Hideyo Noguchi, Mérida, Yucatán, México
  • Antoinette McIntosh College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
  • Alyson G. Young College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
  • Jorge A. Hernandez College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4247.2014.03.04.7

Keywords:

Child, undernutrition, risk factors, oportunidades, Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine child, mother, and environmental factors associated with undernutrition in children less than five years old in a Maya community in Yucatan, Mexico. This investigation was designed as a case-control study. All cases (n=42) of undernutrition were included, and a sample of 52 controls was randomly selected from the study population. The frequency of investigated exposure factors was compared between cases and controls by using logistic regression. Undernutrition was associated with child’s age (> 36 months old; OR = 3.53; 95% CI = 1.04, 18.40) and mother’s marital status (married; OR = 0.29; 95% CI = 0.09, 0.90). The odds of undernutrition were 2.81 times higher in children infected with Giardia spp, but this association was not significant (P = 0.18) after controlling for child’s age and mother’s marital status. In conclusion, child’s age and mother’s marital status were associated with child undernutrition in study subjects. Futures studies on undernutrition in children should examine more carefully how mother’s marital status alone or in combination with other factors (e.g. socio-economic, psychological factors) can influence child nutrition.

References

Rodríguez L, Cervantes E, Ortiz R. Malnutrition and gastro-intestinal and respiratory infections in children: a public health problem. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2011; 8: 1174-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph8041174

Delpeuch F, Traisac P, Martin-Prével Y, et al. Economic crisis and Malnutrition: socioeconomic determinants of anthropometric status of preschool children and their mothers in an African urban area. Public Health Nutr 2000; 3: 39-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1368980000000069

Abuya BA, Ciera J, Kimani-Murage E. Effect of mother’s education on child’s nutritional status in the slums of Nairobi. BMC Pediatr 2012; 12: 80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2431-12-80

González-de Cossío T, Rivera JA, González-Castell D, et al. Child Malnutrition in Mexico in the last two decades: prevalence using the new WHO 2006 growth standards. Salud Pública de México 2009; 51: 494-506.

Rivera JA, Sotres-Alvarez D, Habicht JP, et al. Impact of the Mexican programme for education, health, and nutrition (Progresa) on rates of growth and anemia in infants and young children: a randomized effectiveness study. JAMA 2004; 291: 2563-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.291.21.2563

Fernald LCH, Gertler PJ, Neufeld LM. Role of cash in conditional cash transfer programs for child health, growth, and development: an analysis of Mexico’s Oportunidades. Lancet 2008; 371: 828-37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60382-7

Fernald LCH, Gertler PJ, Neufeld LM. 10-year effect of Oportunidades, Mexico’s conditional cash transfer program, on child growth, cognition, language, and behavior: a longitudinal follow-up study. Lancet 2009; 374: 1997-2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61676-7

Gertler P. Do conditional cash transfers improve child health? Evidence from PROGRESA’s control randomized experiment. Am Econ Rev 2004; 94: 336-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/0002828041302109

Avila CA, Shamah LT, Galindo GC, et al. La desnutrición infantil en el medio rural mexicano. Salud Pública de México 1998; 40: 150-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0036-36341998000200007

Cunalo de la Cerda HE, Cabrera Araujo ZM, Ochoa Estrada E, et al. Infant nutrition in a poor Mayan village of Yucatan is related to an energy deficiency diet that a course of nutrition could not overcome. Ecol Food Nutrit 2007; 46: 37-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03670240601093342

Leatherman TL, Goodman AH, Stillman T. Changes in stature, weight, and nutritional status with tourism-based economic development in the Yucatan. Economics Human Biol 2010; 8: 153-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2010.05.008

Varela-Silva MI, Azcorra H, Dickinson F, et al. Influence of mother’s stature, pregnancy age, and infant birth weight on growth during childhood in Yucatan, Mexico: a test of the intergenerational effects hypothesis. Am J Human Biol 2009; 21: 557-663. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.20883

Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, 2011. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2010: Tunkas, Yucatan. Available from: http://www3.ineintestinal.org.mx/sistemas/mexicocifras/ default.aspx?src=487&e=31. Accessed December 15, 2012.

Das J, Do Q-T, Ozler B. Reassessing conditional cash transfer programs. World Bank Res Obs 2005; 20: 57-80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lki005

Research Randomizer, Social Psychology Network, Middletown, Conn. Available from: www.randomizer.org.

Zajac AM, Conboy GA. Veterinary Clinical Parasitology. New Jersey: Wiley, John & Sons, Inc; 2005.

Goodman D, Haji HJ, Bickle QD, et al. A comparison of methods for detecting the eggs of Ascaris, Trichuris, and Hookworm in infant stool, and the epidemiology of infection in Zanzibari infants. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2007; 76: 725-31.

García LS, Bruckner DA. Diagnostic Medical Parasitology. Washington DC: ASM Press; 1997.

Statistix 10 for Windows, Analytical Software, Tallahassee, Florida.

Moreno-Cortes A, Mendez-Lozano SM. Parental stress, mealtime dyadic interactions, and undernourishment in the complementary feeding period. J Behavior Health Social Issues 2012; 3: 113-25.

Black MM, Baqui AH, Zaman K, et al. Mother’s depressive symptoms and infant growth in rural Bangladesh. Am J Clin Nutr 2009; 89: 951S-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2008.26692E

Anoop S, Saravanan B, Joseph A, et al. Mother’s depression and low mother’s intelligence as risk factors for undernutrition in children: a community based case-control study from South India. Arch Dis Child 2004; 898: 325-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/adc.2002.009738

Harpham T, Huttly S, De Silva MJ, et al. Mother’s mental health and child nutrition status in our developing countries. J Epidemiol Community Health 2005; 59: 1060-4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech.2005.039180

Patel V, DeSouza N, Rodrigues M. Postnatal depression and infant growth and development in low-income countries: a cohort study from Goa, India. Arch Dis Child 2003; 88: 34-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/adc.88.1.34

Rahman A, Lovel H, Bunn J, et al. Mother’s mental health and infant growth: a case-control study from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Child Care Health Dev 2004; 30: 21-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2004.00382.x

De Miranda CT, Turecki G, Mari de J, et al. Mental health of mothers of malnourished children. Int J Epidemiol 2006; 25: 128-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/25.1.128

Surkan P, Kawachi I, Ryan LM, et al. Mother’s depressive symptoms, parenting self-efficacy, and child growth. Am J Public Health 2008; 98: 125-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2006.108332

Adewuya AO, Ola BO, Aloba OO, et al. Impact of postnatal depression on infants’ growth in Nigeria. J Affect Disord 2008; 108: 191-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2007.09.013

Sackey ME, Weigel MM, Armijos RX. Predictors and nutritional consequences of intestinal parasitic infection in rural Ecuadorian children. J Trop Pediatrics 2003; 49: 17-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/tropej/49.1.17

Stephenson LA, Latham MC, Ottesen EA. Malnutrition and parasitic helminth infections. Parasitol 2000; 121: S23-38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0031182000006491

Downloads

Published

2014-12-05

How to Cite

Glenn, J. C., Walden, H. S., Guzmán-Marín, E. . ., Gonzalez-Losa, M. . del . R. . ., McIntosh, A., Young, A. G., & Hernandez, J. A. (2014). Assessment of Child, Mother, and Environmental Factors Associated with Undernutrition in Children Less than Five Years Old in a Maya Community in Yucatan, Mexico. International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition, 3(4), 204–212. https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4247.2014.03.04.7

Issue

Section

General Articles