Andrew Mertens, Jade Benjamin-Chung, John M. Colford, Jeremy Coyle, Mark J. van der Laan, Alan E. Hubbard, Sonali Rosete, Ivana Malenica, Nima Hejazi, Oleg Sofrygin, Wilson Cai, Haodong Li, Anna Nguyen, Nolan N. Pokpongkiat, Stephanie Djajadi, Anmol Seth, Esther Jung, Esther O. Chung, Wendy Jilek, Vishak Subramoney, Ryan Hafen, Jonas Häggström, Thea Norman, Kenneth H. Brown, Parul Christian, Benjamin F. Arnold, Souheila Abbeddou, Linda S. Adair, Tahmeed Ahmed, Asad Ali, Hasmot Ali, Per Ashorn, Rajiv Bahl, Mauricio L. Barreto, Elodie Becquey, France Begín, Pascal Obong Bessong, Maharaj Kishan Bhan, Nita Bhandari, Santosh K. Bhargava, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Robert E. Black, Ladaporn Bodhidatta, Delia Carba, William Checkley, Parul Christian, Jean E. Crabtree, Kathryn G. Dewey, Christopher P. Duggan, Caroline H. D. Fall, Abu Syed Golam Faruque, Wafaie W. Fawzi, José Quirino da Silva Filho, Robert H. Gilman, Richard L. Guerrant, Rashidul Haque, S. M. Tafsir Hasan, Sonja Y. Hess, Eric R. Houpt, Jean H. Humphrey, Najeeha Talat Iqbal, Elizabeth Yakes Jimenez, Jacob John, Sushil Matthew John, Gagandeep Kang, Margaret Kosek, Michael S. Kramer, Alain Labrique, Nanette R. Lee, Aldo Ângelo Moreira Lima, Tjale Cloupas Mahopo, Kenneth Maleta, Dharma S. Manandhar, Karim P. Manji, Reynaldo Martorell, Sarmila Mazumder, Estomih Mduma, Venkata Raghava Mohan, Sophie E. Moore, Robert Ntozini, Mzwakhe Emanuel Nyathi, Maribel Paredes Olortegui, Césaire T. Ouédraogo, William A. Petri, Prasanna Samuel Premkumar, Andrew M. Prentice, Najeeb Rahman, Manuel Ramirez-Zea, Harshpal Singh Sachdev, Kamran Sadiq, Rajiv Sarkar, Monira Sarmin, Naomi M. Saville, Saijuddin Shaikh, Bhim P. Shrestha, Sanjaya Kumar Shrestha, Alberto Melo Soares, Bakary Sonko, Aryeh D. Stein, Erling Svensen, Sana Syed, Fayaz Umrani, Honorine D. Ward, Keith P. West, Lee Shu Fune Wu, Seungmi Yang, Pablo Penataro Yori
Growth faltering in children (low length for age or low weight for length) during the first 1,000 days of life (from conception to 2 years of age) influences short-term and long-term health and survival1,2. Interventions such as nutritional supplementation during pregnancy and the postnatal period could help prevent growth faltering, but programmatic action has been insufficient to eliminate the high burden of stunting and wasting in low- and middle-income countries. Identification of age windows and population subgroups on which to focus will benefit future preventive efforts. Here we use a population intervention effects analysis of 33 longitudinal cohorts (83,671 children, 662,763 measurements) and 30 separate exposures to show that improving maternal anthropometry and child condition at birth accounted for population increases in length-for-age z-scores of up to 0.40 and weight-for-length z-scores of up to 0.15 by 24 months of age. Boys had consistently higher risk of all forms of growth faltering than girls. Early postnatal growth faltering predisposed children to subsequent and persistent growth faltering. Children with multiple growth deficits exhibited higher mortality rates from birth to 2 years of age than children without growth deficits (hazard ratios 1.9 to 8.7). The importance of prenatal causes and severe consequences for children who experienced early growth faltering support a focus on pre-conception and pregnancy as a key opportunity for new preventive interventions. © 2023, The Author(s).
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States; Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, United States; DVPL Tech, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Hafen Consulting, West Richland, WA, United States; Cytel, Waltham, MA, United States; Quantitative Sciences, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, United States; Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States; Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States; Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States; Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States; Food Safety and Nutrition Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan; JiVitA Project, Johns Hopkins Bangladesh, Bangladesh, Rangpur, Bangladesh; Center for Child, Adolescent and Maternal Health Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland; World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland; Center of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Salvador, Brazil; International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, United States; UNICEF, New York, NY, United States; HIV/AIDS and Global Health Research Programme, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa; Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India; Centre for Health Research and Development, Society for Applied Studies, New Delhi, India; Sunder Lal Jain Hospital, Delhi, India; Institute for Global Health and Development and Center of Excellence in Women and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan; Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States; Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand; USC Office of Population Studies Foundation, University of San Carlos, Cebu, Philippines; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, United States; Leeds Institute for Medical Research, St James’s University Hospital, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom; Institute for Global Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Center for Nutrition, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom; Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, United States; Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil; University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States; Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan; Departments of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, United States; Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, United States; Christian Medical College, Vellore, India; Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, India; McGill University and McGill University Health Centre, Quebec, QC, Canada; Center of Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States; Office of Population Studies Foundation, University of San Carlos, Cebu, Philippines; Department of Nutrition, School of Health Sciences, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa; Department of Public Health, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi; Mother and Infant Research Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal; Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Muhimbili University School of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Haydom, Tanzania; Community Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India; Department of Women and Children’s Health, Kings College London, London, United Kingdom; MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, Gambia; Zvitambo Institute for Maternal and Child Health Research, Harare, Zimbabwe; Department of Animal Sciences, School of Agriculture, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa; AB PRISMA, Lima, Peru; Research Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases, Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama, Guatemala City, Guatemala; Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi, India; Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Health Research and Development Forum, Kathmandu, Nepal; Walter Reed/AFRIMS Research Unit, Kathmandu, Nepal; Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, United States; Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Medford, MA, United States; McGill University, QC, Canada
Research at a Glance
Register to unlock
Topics & SDG Alignment
Register to unlock
Collaboration
Register to unlock
Author Profile (Selected)
Register to unlock
References Overview
Register to unlock
Journal & Source
Register to unlock
Metadata & Integrity
Register to unlock