Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Volume 178, Issue 7, Pages 1129-1138Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwt094
Keywords
child health; diarrhea; malnutrition; stunting; wasting
Categories
Funding
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of the Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition
- Consequences for Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) Project
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health [R00HL096955]
- Medical Research Council [MR/K007467/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- MRC [MR/K007467/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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The short-term association between diarrhea and weight is well-accepted, but the long-term association between diarrhea and growth is less clear. Using data from 7 cohort studies (Peru, 19851987; Peru, 19891991; Peru, 19951998; Brazil, 19891998; Guinea-Bissau, 19871990; Guinea-Bissau, 19961997; and Bangladesh, 19931996), we evaluated the lagged relationship between diarrhea and growth in the first 2 years of life. Our analysis included 1,007 children with 597,638 child-days of diarrhea surveillance and 15,629 anthropometric measurements. We calculated the associations between varying diarrhea burdens during lagged 30-day periods and length at 24 months of age. The cumulative association between the average diarrhea burden and length at age 24 months was 0.38 cm (95 confidence interval: 0.59, 0.17). Diarrhea during the 30 days prior to anthropometric measurement was consistently associated with lower weight at most ages, but there was little indication of a short-term association with length. Diarrhea was associated with a small but measurable decrease in linear growth over the long term. These findings support a focus on prevention of diarrhea as part of an overall public health strategy for improving child health and nutrition; however, more research is needed to explore catch-up growth and potential confounders.
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