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Cited by 323Child Nutrition and Water AccessPublic Health and NutritionGlobal Maternal and Child Health

Stunting and severe stunting among children under-5 years in Nigeria: a multilevel analysis

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Akombi, Blessing Jaka, Agho, Kingsley Emwinyore, Hall, John Joseph, Merom, Dafna, Astell-Burt, Thomas, Renzaho, Andre M. N.·2017·BMC Pediatrics
DOI 10.1186/s12887-016-0770-zPMC PMC5237247
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Stunting has been identified as one of the major proximal risk factors for poor physical and mental development of children under-5 years. Stunting predominantly occurs in the first 1000 days of life (0-23 months) and continues to the age of five. This study examines factors associated with stunting and severe stunting among children under-5 years in Nigeria. METHODS: The sample included 24,529 children aged 0-59 months from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Height-for-age z-scores (HFAz), generated using the 2006 World Health Organisation (WHO) growth reference, were used to define stunting (HFAz < -2SD) and severe stunting (HFAz < -3SD). Multilevel logistic regression analyses that adjusted for cluster and survey weights were used to determine potential risk factors associated with stunting and severe stunting among children under-5 years in Nigeria. RESULTS: The prevalence of stunting and severe stunting were 29% [95% Confidence interval (Cl): 27.4, 30.8] and 16.4% [95%Cl: 15.1, 17.8], respectively for children aged 0-23 months, and 36.7% [95%Cl: 35.1, 38.3] and 21% [95%Cl: 19.7, 22.4], respectively for children aged 0-59 months. Multivariate analysis revealed that the most consistent significant risk factors for stunting and severe stunting among children aged 0-23 months and 0-59 months are: sex of child (male), mother's perceived birth size (small and average), household wealth index (poor and poorest households), duration of breastfeeding (more than 12 months), geopolitical zone (North East, North West, North Central) and children who were reported to having had diarrhoea in the 2 weeks prior to the survey [Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for stunted children 0-23 months = 1.22 (95%Cl: 0.99, 1.49)];[AOR for stunted children 0-59 months = 1.31 (95%Cl: 1.16, 1.49)], [AOR for severely stunted children 0-23 months = 1.31 (95%Cl: 1.03, 1.67)]; [AOR for severely stunted children 0-59 months = 1.58 (95%Cl: 1.38, 1.82)]. CONCLUSIONS: In order to meet the post-2015 sustainable development goals, policy interventions to reduce stunting in Nigeria should focus on poverty alleviation as well as improving women's nutrition, child feeding practices and household sanitation.

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  • Maternal or household access to clean water significantly reduced the risk of under-five mortality, child stunting, schistosomiasis, and hookworm infections.

    “Concretely, studies showed that maternal, or household access to clean water significantly reduced the risk of under-five mortality (Ahmed et al., 2016;Acheampong et al., 2017Acheampong et al., , 2018)), child stunting (Akombi et al., 2017;Vos et al., 2017;Marinda et al., 2018), schistosomiasis (Atalabi et al., 2016;Donohue et al., 2017), and hookworm infections (Baker et al., 2018).”

    From A Systematic Review of Water and Gender Interlinkages: Assessing the Intersection With Health (2020) · cites this paper as Akombi et al., 2017

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Authors
Akombi, B. J., Agho, K. E., Hall, J. J., Merom, D., Astell-Burt, T., & Renzaho, A. M. N.
Affiliations
  • Western Sydney University (AU)
  • University of Newcastle Australia (AU)
ORCID
Venue
BMC Pediatrics
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2017-01-13
Volume
17
Issue
1
Pages
15-15
ISSN
1471-2431 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12887-016-0770-z
PMC
PMC5237247
OpenAlex
W2575304420
Cited by
322
References
37
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 73 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6
FWCI
16.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • BMC Pediatrics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • NOVA (University of Newcastle Australia) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Western Sydney University
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Public Health and Nutrition
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
Keywords
child stunting, severe stunting, children under five, risk factors for stunting, breastfeeding duration, diarrhea, household wealth, sex of child, Nigeria, height-for-age z-score, first 1000 days, under-five malnutrition, geopolitical zones, multilevel analysis
MeSH terms
Child, Preschool, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Growth Disorders, Health Surveys, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Nigeria, Risk Factors, Severity of Illness Index, Prevalence, Multivariate Analysis, Logistic Models

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