Factors associated with stunting among urban poor children aged 2 to 5 years living in low cost-flats at Kuala Lumpur

Mohd Razi, Nur Aida Aryani (2021) Factors associated with stunting among urban poor children aged 2 to 5 years living in low cost-flats at Kuala Lumpur. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

Text FPSK3 2021 15.pdf Download (1MB)

Abstract

Stunting remains a public health concern. There are increasing concerns that low-income families in urban are particularly vulnerable to stunting. However, there is limited study examining stunting issue among urban poor children under five in Malaysia. Most of the local studies on stunting focused on school-aged children and Orang Asli children. Moreover, the UNICEF report in 2018 on childhood stunting among urban poor children in low-cost flats did not identify the associated factors of stunting. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to determine the factors associated with stunting among urban poor children aged 2 to 5 years old living in low-cost flats at Kuala Lumpur. A total of 52 children (48.1% males and 51.9% females) and their mothers participated in this study through convenience sampling. Information on sociodemographic characteristics, breastfeeding practice, food insecurity, second-hand smoke exposure and anthropometry data were completed by the mothers using an online questionnaire. Findings showed that the prevalence of stunting in children aged 2 to 5 years old in this study was 28.8%, whereas 21.2% of the mothers and 13.5% of the fathers had short stature. However, these results in this study have to be interpreted cautiously as self-reported height and weight of the respondents was used in this study due to the application of lockdown in the country to contain COVID-19 pandemic. This study further found that majority of the mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding (79.0%) and the prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth was 82.7%. The mean duration of breastfeeding was about 30 months. Besides, majority of the households in this study had the problem of food insecurity (67.3%). All mothers in this study were not smoking. However, 36.5% of the fathers smoked. Moreover, this study found the mean ± SD of the number of cigarettes that fathers smoked was 8.21 ± 3.31 per day, in which more than half smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day (52.6%). About one third (32.7%) of the children were exposed to second-hand smoke. Female children (p=0.020), mothers with short stature (p=0.023), fathers who smoked (p=0.025) and children who exposed to second-hand smoke (p<0.001) showed higher risk of becoming stunted. However, there were no significant associations between ethnicity, parental marital status, parental education level, monthly household income, father’s height, birth weight, breastfeeding duration and food security with child stunting (p>0.05). Immediate and appropriate interventions targeted at urban poor children are needed, particularly in addressing second-hand smoke exposure. Family member who smoke is encouraged to quit smoking to maintain a smoke-free home environment that is beneficial to the nutritional and health status of children

Item Type:	Project Paper
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Ms Norafizah Radzuan
Date Deposited:	04 Sep 2023 06:47
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2023 06:47
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/1282

Actions (login required)

View Item