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Mokalla TR and Mendu VVR

3. Results

3.1. Descriptive Statistics

The descriptive results are presented in Table 1. In all the data about (248,174), children in the age group of 0-59 months
were analyzed. Among them, 20% of children were stunted in the age group 0-6 months and steadily increased to 42% in
the age group of 25-59 months. This indicates that the rate of stunting is found to be higher as the age increases, similar
patterns in underweight. About half of the stunted children had mothers with no education, 45% of the children had
mothers with <5 years of education. Furthermore, a similar pattern was observed among the underweight and wasted
children.
The prevalence of stunted, underweight, and wasting children is declining with the rise in mother’s education. Over
50% of children in the poorest households were stunted, and it was 23% among the higher economic group. The frequency
of stunted children in the scheduled caste is 44%, and it is decreased to 31% in general caste or other castes. Furthermore,
the same was observed in underweight and wasting. About 49%, 43%, and 22% of the children were stunted, underweight,
and wasting of forth or more birth order was decreased in the birth order one. Nearly 44% of the children belonging to the
scheduled cast were stunted; the prevalence of stunted children in the other caste groups was around 31%. Underweight
and wasted children were more among scheduled castes, and the prevalence was quite low among the other caste groups:
47%, 48%, and 27% of the children whose mother’s nutritional status was BMI <18.50 were stunted, underweight, and
wasted. The nutritional status of children was less common among the children’s mothers’ BMI >25.0. The prevalence of
stunting, underweight, and wasting decreases as the mother’s nutritional status increases. The Chi-square test performed
on all selected categorical variables were found significantly related to the nutritional health status of the children

3.2. Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis

3.2.1. Risk factors for stunting

As shown in Table 2, it is noted that the odds of being stunted increased after the first 6 months of life. Children in the
age group of 25-59 were 3 times more likely to be stunted when compared to the children in the age group of 0-6 months.
Children in the age group of 13-24 months, 7-12 months age were 3 and 1.4 times more likely to be stunted, respectively.
Children with small size (lower weight) at birth were 1.5 times more likely to be stunted than children with large size
(heavier weight) at birth. Children with a higher birth order were more likely to be stunted than those having lower birth
order. Children with birth order four and above had 1.3 times more chances of being a shorter height for their age.
The odds ratios reduced with the increase in mother’s education. Illiterate mothers were twice as more likely to be
stunted as compared to children of literate mothers whose education is of 12 years or more and similar to the mother’s
nutritional status. Children, whose mothers’ BMI was below normal, were 1.2 times more likely to be suffering from
chronic malnutrition as compared to those children whose BMI was normal. Children belonging to the poorest families
are facing twice the risk of being stunted as compared to those belonging to richest families. Scheduled caste/tribes and
other backward class families were more likely to have stunted children than other castes.

3.2.2. Risk factors for underweight
From Table 2, it was found that the factor approaching as the most reliable determinant was households’ wealth index.
Specifically, there exists an inverse relationship between the wealth quintile and the child’s nutritional status. The household
with the poorest wealth status was twice more likely to have underweight children as compared to the households which
belong to the richest wealth quintile. Furthermore, it was in the mother’s nutritional and educational status. Children with
mother’s nutrition (BMI <18.50) had 1.6 times the risk of being underweight than those whose mothers who were well-
nourished and the same as the risk of having malnourished children than whose mothers had an education of 12 years or
more.
The present study showed that the possibility of being underweight increased with an increase in the child’s age. Among
the children, age group of 25-59-months, the odds ratio for underweight was 2 times than children in the 0-6 month’s
age group. Children with a smaller size at birth were 1.7 times more likely to be thinner for their age than children with a
larger size at birth. Taking caste into consideration, children belonging to the scheduled caste and those belonging to other
backward classes were 1.3 times more likely to be underweight. Children having birth order four and above were more
prone to be underweight as compared to children having birth order 1.

International Journal of Population Studies | 2019, Volume 5, Issue 2 17