Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon

Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo; Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20

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Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon

Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo, Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam

Published in American Journal of Pediatrics (Volume 6, Issue 2)

Received: 7 February 2020 Accepted: 27 February 2020 Published: 17 March 2020

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Abstract

Background: Stunting is a condition that occurs as a result of a defective growth process. It may remain unnoticed in some children, with the diagnosis made as late as during adolescence. The accurate diagnosis of stunting is mainly done by physical examination, including the assessment of anthropometric parameters, while etiological explorations may require deeper and more complex investigations such as radiological and hormonal or endocrinal analyses. The various etiologies described in the literature may vary from nutritional, hormonal, pathological to psychological factors. A number of determinants of stunting in children have equally been documented, but they may vary from one context to another according to environmental factors. The effective management of stunting generally relies on the treatment of the underlying causes and the prevention of risk factors. Our objective was to determine the factors associated with stunting in school children living in an urban community of Yaounde, Cameroon. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was carried out on primary and secondary school children aged from 8 to 15 years, between January and June 2015. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were made to identify risk factors and eventually predictive factors. Results: The study involved 1442 children of which 79 presented stature delay. After bivariate analysis, the risk factors associated with stunting were: the presence of chronic pathological conditions (p=0.03), low socioeconomic level (p=0.0022), poor or limited diet (p=0.03), delayed puberty (p=0), and children “living with their mothers only” (p=0.02). After multivariate analysis, low socioeconomic level (OR=4.2; CI=1.7-10.3), children “living with their mother only” (OR=0.2; CI=0.6-0.8), and delayed puberty (OR=12.6; CI=4.9-31.8) persisted as independent predictive factors. Conclusion: Common risk factors such as chronic pathologies, low socioeconomic level, poor or limited diet and delayed puberty which are generally incriminated by various researches were verified in this survey. Delayed puberty was the most strongly associated factor, followed by “low socioeconomic level” and children “living with their mothers only”, which appeared as predictive factors as well. Nevertheless, children “living with their mothers only” were protected from stunting. Therefore, improvement of socioeconomic standards, food quality, prevention of chronic pathologies and delayed puberty may help to reduce stunting in such children. While mothers’ presence for nurturing and affective attention is necessary.

Published in	American Journal of Pediatrics (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20
Page(s)	121-124
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Stunting, School Children, Cameroon

References

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[2]	Saengkaew T, McNeil E, Jaruratanasirikul S. Etiologies of short stature in a pediatric endocrine clinic in Southern Thailand. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 2017; 30 (12).
[3]	El Hioui, Ahami A, Aboussaleh Y, Rusinek S. Staturo-ponderal deficit in studests from a Moroccan school. Bull. Soc. Pharm. Bordeaux 2008; 147: 61-7.
[4]	Alharthi A. Idiopathic Short Stature in Children: A Hospital Based Study. J Med Sci. 2016; 16 (3): 56-61.
[5]	Sbaibi R, Aboussaleh Y. An explorative study of the staturo-ponderal status of secondary school children in the rural community of Sidi El Kamel in North-west Marocco. Anthropo 2011; 24: 61-6.
[6]	Zayed AA, Beano AM, Haddadin FI, Radwan SS, Allauzy SA, Alkhayyat MM et al. Prevalence of short stature, underweight, overweight, and obesity among school children in Jordan. BMC Public Health.2016; 16 (1): 1040.
[7]	Berhe K, Seid O, Geremariam Y, Berhe A, Etsay N. Risk factors of stunting (chronic undernourishment) of children aged 6 to 24 moths I Mekelle City, Tigray region, North Ethiopia: an unmatched case-control study. PloS OnE.2019; 14 (6): e0217736.
[8]	National Institute of Statistics of Cameroon. Health and demographic survey with multiple indicators. 2011.
[9]	Jafari-Adli S, Qorbani M, Heshmat R, Ranjbar SH, Taheri E, et al. Association of short stature with life satisfaction and self-rated health in children and adolescents: the CASPIAN-IV study. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 2016; 29: 1299–306.
[10]	Leonie N, Urban J, Nouedoui U, Hans S, Lena S. Socioeconomic and gender differences in adolescents’ nutritional status in urban Cameroon, Africa. Nutritional research 2009; 29: 312-13.
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[12]	Sbaibi R, Aboussaleh Y, Achouri I, Ahami A, Ateillal K. Exploration of relationships between the staturo-ponderal status and certain socioeconomic factors in secondary school students in the rural community of Sidi El Kamel (north-west marocco). Anthropo 2014; 31: 9-16.
[13]	WHO. Turning the tide of malnutrition responding to the challenge of the 21st century (who/NHD/007), Geneve.2000.
[14]	Joint Malnutrition dataset from UNICEF, World Bank and WHO. http://data.unicef.org/nutrition/malnutrition.html. 2016.
[15]	Das S, Gulshan J. Different forms of malnutrition among under five children in Bangladesch: a cross sectional study on prevalence and determinants. BMC nutr. 2017; 3 (1): 1.
[16]	Villanueva C, Argente J. Pathology or normal variant: what constitutes a Delay in Puberty? Horm Res Pediatr 2014; 82 (4): 213-21.
[17]	Hussein A, Farghaly H, Askar E, Metwalley K, Saad K, Zahran A et al. Etiological factors of short stature in children and adolescents: experience at a tertiary care hospital in Egypt. Ther Adv Endocrinol Metab. 2017; 8 (5): 75–80.

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Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo, Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam. (2020). Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon. American Journal of Pediatrics, 6(2), 121-124. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20

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Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo; Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam. Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon. Am. J. Pediatr. 2020, 6(2), 121-124. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20

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Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo, Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam. Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon. Am J Pediatr. 2020;6(2):121-124. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20

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@article{10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20,
  author = {Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo and Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam},
  title = {Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon},
  journal = {American Journal of Pediatrics},
  volume = {6},
  number = {2},
  pages = {121-124},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajp.20200602.20},
  abstract = {Background: Stunting is a condition that occurs as a result of a defective growth process. It may remain unnoticed in some children, with the diagnosis made as late as during adolescence. The accurate diagnosis of stunting is mainly done by physical examination, including the assessment of anthropometric parameters, while etiological explorations may require deeper and more complex investigations such as radiological and hormonal or endocrinal analyses. The various etiologies described in the literature may vary from nutritional, hormonal, pathological to psychological factors. A number of determinants of stunting in children have equally been documented, but they may vary from one context to another according to environmental factors. The effective management of stunting generally relies on the treatment of the underlying causes and the prevention of risk factors. Our objective was to determine the factors associated with stunting in school children living in an urban community of Yaounde, Cameroon. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was carried out on primary and secondary school children aged from 8 to 15 years, between January and June 2015. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were made to identify risk factors and eventually predictive factors. Results: The study involved 1442 children of which 79 presented stature delay. After bivariate analysis, the risk factors associated with stunting were: the presence of chronic pathological conditions (p=0.03), low socioeconomic level (p=0.0022), poor or limited diet (p=0.03), delayed puberty (p=0), and children “living with their mothers only” (p=0.02). After multivariate analysis, low socioeconomic level (OR=4.2; CI=1.7-10.3), children “living with their mother only” (OR=0.2; CI=0.6-0.8), and delayed puberty (OR=12.6; CI=4.9-31.8) persisted as independent predictive factors. Conclusion: Common risk factors such as chronic pathologies, low socioeconomic level, poor or limited diet and delayed puberty which are generally incriminated by various researches were verified in this survey. Delayed puberty was the most strongly associated factor, followed by “low socioeconomic level” and children “living with their mothers only”, which appeared as predictive factors as well. Nevertheless, children “living with their mothers only” were protected from stunting. Therefore, improvement of socioeconomic standards, food quality, prevention of chronic pathologies and delayed puberty may help to reduce stunting in such children. While mothers’ presence for nurturing and affective attention is necessary.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon
AU - Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo
AU - Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam
Y1 - 2020/03/17
PY - 2020
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20
DO - 10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20
T2 - American Journal of Pediatrics
JF - American Journal of Pediatrics
JO - American Journal of Pediatrics
SP - 121
EP - 124
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2472-0909
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20
AB - Background: Stunting is a condition that occurs as a result of a defective growth process. It may remain unnoticed in some children, with the diagnosis made as late as during adolescence. The accurate diagnosis of stunting is mainly done by physical examination, including the assessment of anthropometric parameters, while etiological explorations may require deeper and more complex investigations such as radiological and hormonal or endocrinal analyses. The various etiologies described in the literature may vary from nutritional, hormonal, pathological to psychological factors. A number of determinants of stunting in children have equally been documented, but they may vary from one context to another according to environmental factors. The effective management of stunting generally relies on the treatment of the underlying causes and the prevention of risk factors. Our objective was to determine the factors associated with stunting in school children living in an urban community of Yaounde, Cameroon. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was carried out on primary and secondary school children aged from 8 to 15 years, between January and June 2015. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were made to identify risk factors and eventually predictive factors. Results: The study involved 1442 children of which 79 presented stature delay. After bivariate analysis, the risk factors associated with stunting were: the presence of chronic pathological conditions (p=0.03), low socioeconomic level (p=0.0022), poor or limited diet (p=0.03), delayed puberty (p=0), and children “living with their mothers only” (p=0.02). After multivariate analysis, low socioeconomic level (OR=4.2; CI=1.7-10.3), children “living with their mother only” (OR=0.2; CI=0.6-0.8), and delayed puberty (OR=12.6; CI=4.9-31.8) persisted as independent predictive factors. Conclusion: Common risk factors such as chronic pathologies, low socioeconomic level, poor or limited diet and delayed puberty which are generally incriminated by various researches were verified in this survey. Delayed puberty was the most strongly associated factor, followed by “low socioeconomic level” and children “living with their mothers only”, which appeared as predictive factors as well. Nevertheless, children “living with their mothers only” were protected from stunting. Therefore, improvement of socioeconomic standards, food quality, prevention of chronic pathologies and delayed puberty may help to reduce stunting in such children. While mothers’ presence for nurturing and affective attention is necessary.
VL - 6
IS - 2
ER -

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Author Information

Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo

Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon
Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam

Soa, District Hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon

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APA Style

Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo, Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam. (2020). Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon. American Journal of Pediatrics, 6(2), 121-124. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20

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ACS Style

Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo; Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam. Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon. Am. J. Pediatr. 2020, 6(2), 121-124. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20

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AMA Style

Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo, Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam. Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon. Am J Pediatr. 2020;6(2):121-124. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20

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@article{10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20,
  author = {Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo and Ivan Fred Kamsi Djomkam},
  title = {Factors Associated with Stunting in School Children of an Urban Community in Cameroon},
  journal = {American Journal of Pediatrics},
  volume = {6},
  number = {2},
  pages = {121-124},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20200602.20},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajp.20200602.20},
  abstract = {Background: Stunting is a condition that occurs as a result of a defective growth process. It may remain unnoticed in some children, with the diagnosis made as late as during adolescence. The accurate diagnosis of stunting is mainly done by physical examination, including the assessment of anthropometric parameters, while etiological explorations may require deeper and more complex investigations such as radiological and hormonal or endocrinal analyses. The various etiologies described in the literature may vary from nutritional, hormonal, pathological to psychological factors. A number of determinants of stunting in children have equally been documented, but they may vary from one context to another according to environmental factors. The effective management of stunting generally relies on the treatment of the underlying causes and the prevention of risk factors. Our objective was to determine the factors associated with stunting in school children living in an urban community of Yaounde, Cameroon. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was carried out on primary and secondary school children aged from 8 to 15 years, between January and June 2015. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were made to identify risk factors and eventually predictive factors. Results: The study involved 1442 children of which 79 presented stature delay. After bivariate analysis, the risk factors associated with stunting were: the presence of chronic pathological conditions (p=0.03), low socioeconomic level (p=0.0022), poor or limited diet (p=0.03), delayed puberty (p=0), and children “living with their mothers only” (p=0.02). After multivariate analysis, low socioeconomic level (OR=4.2; CI=1.7-10.3), children “living with their mother only” (OR=0.2; CI=0.6-0.8), and delayed puberty (OR=12.6; CI=4.9-31.8) persisted as independent predictive factors. Conclusion: Common risk factors such as chronic pathologies, low socioeconomic level, poor or limited diet and delayed puberty which are generally incriminated by various researches were verified in this survey. Delayed puberty was the most strongly associated factor, followed by “low socioeconomic level” and children “living with their mothers only”, which appeared as predictive factors as well. Nevertheless, children “living with their mothers only” were protected from stunting. Therefore, improvement of socioeconomic standards, food quality, prevention of chronic pathologies and delayed puberty may help to reduce stunting in such children. While mothers’ presence for nurturing and affective attention is necessary.},
 year = {2020}
}

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