Effect of wealth, social inequality, Mother's BMI, and education level on child malnutrition in India

Abstract

Background and aims: The differences in prevalence of malnutrition are mostly on account of social factors. However, we did not find any published study that provided an estimate of proportion of stunting and underweight among under-5 children due to household economic conditions, social inequalities, mother's BMI and education level. Hence, study has taken to study the effect of household economic status, social inequality, mother's BMI and education on stunting and underweight among children under-5 years and its determinants.

Methods: The study used Kids file of NFHS-4 (2015-16), which comprised 259,627 children aged less than five years. This data was analysed by bivariate and Forward Logistic Regression techniques using M.S. Excel and IBM SPSS-22 version.

Results: The prevalence of stunting and underweight children was significantly higher among those born to underweight mothers, poor households, working women, and women had a home delivery. It was also high among children of 4th or higher birth order, those from scheduled castes and tribes, born to illiterate women and those residing in rural. The odds of stunting (OR = 2.67, 95% CI: 2.54-2.81) and underweight (OR = 2.74, 95% CI: 2.60-2.88) were more than two times higher among children living in poor households than among those from rich households. Poor households account for about 40% of stunted and underweight children. Fifteen percent of stunted children and 26.9% of underweight were born to underweight mothers. Overall, 60% of stunted and 56.6% of underweight children had illiterate mothers.

Conclusions: children of illiterate and underweight mothers, socially deprived and economically poor groups are at a higher risk of being stunted and underweight. Hence, necessary health programmes are needed for improving nutritional status by giving special attention to illiterate, underweight mothers, socially deprived and economically poor groups.

Keywords: BMI; Education; India; Stunting; Underweight; Wealth.