Maternal Characteristics Determine Stunting in Children of Less than Five Years of Age Results from a National Probabilistic Survey

Background Maternal nutrition and some variables are the main determining factors of birthweight and delayed intrauterine growth of children. Objective To explore the association between the mothers’ biological and sociodemographic characteristics, and the anthropometry status in children under five years of age. Design The population consisted of a sub-sample of 1,047 mother-and-child selected pairs from the probabilistic National Nutrition Survey, carried out in Mexico. Mother-and-child pairs included mothers aged 12 to 49 years, with children under five years of age. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, obstetric history, 24-hour recall dietary intake, and the women and children's anthropometry were collected. The association between maternal characteristics and children's anthropometry status was assessed using multiple logistic regression models. Result Nearly 16.7% of the children <5y of age were stunted (13.5% ≤ 2y and 18.8% > 2y). The height/age of the children was severely affected by maternal height and birth order. In addition, the interaction between socioeconomic level and maternal schooling had a marginal effect (p = 0.09) in the ≤2y group. On the other hand, whether the family received social services and the interaction between maternal height and a dichotomy urbanism variable were significant (p = 0.05) and (p < 0.01) respectively in >2y group. Conclusion Some biological and socioeconomic characteristics among mothers have a negative effect on their children's attained size, especially in the period between 2 and 5 years of age.