Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:55:15.913Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parallel deficits in linear growth and mental development in low-income Mexican infants in the second year of life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Lia C Fernald ,
Lynnette M Neufeld ,
Lauren R Barton ,
Lourdes Schnaas ,
Juan Rivera  and
Paul J Gertler
Lia C Fernald*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 140 Warren Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA
Lynnette M Neufeld
Affiliation:
National Institute of Public Health, Mexico
Lauren R Barton
Affiliation:
Center for Health and Community, Universtiy of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
Lourdes Schnaas
Affiliation:
National Institute of Perinatology, Mexico
Juan Rivera
Affiliation:
National Institute of Public Health, Mexico
Paul J Gertler
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective

To explore anthropometric indicators and mental development in very-low-income children in the second year of life.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting

Low-income areas (income <20th percentile) in semi-urban Mexico (defined as towns or cities with 2500–50 000 inhabitants).

Subjects

Eight hundred and ninety-six children aged 12.5–23.5 months surveyed from September to December 2001.

Methods

Questionnaire survey and anthropometric survey of households. Multivariate regression models evaluated differences across age in anthropometry (height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) and weight-for-height Z-score) and cognitive function (Mental Development Index (MDI) of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development) while controlling for socio-economic and parental characteristics.

Results

There was a significant decline in HAZ and in age-adjusted MDI score across the second year of life. Although the children showed MDI scores close to the mean, normed US values at 13–14 months, the scores were significantly lower than expected in older children (P < 0.0001), even after controlling for socio-economic status and parental characteristics. At 13–14 months, only 3% of children received scores below 70 (less than minus two standard deviations), whereas by 19–20 months, almost 17% of children were performing below this level. No socio-economic or parental characteristics were significant predictors of HAZ or MDI.

Conclusions

Parallel deficits are evident in both height-for-age and cognitive functioning during the second year of life in low-income Mexican infants. The consistency of these growth and development findings further stresses the need for targeted interventions to reduce the vulnerability of low-income Mexican children very early in life.

Keywords

Height-for-ageChild developmentMexicoUrbanSocio-economic statusPoverty
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 178 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2006

References

1Brooks-Gunn, J, Klebanov, P, Liaw, FR, Duncan, GJ. Toward an understanding of the effects of poverty upon children. In: Fitzgerald, HE, Lester, BM, eds. Children of Poverty: Research, Health, and Policy Issues. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995; 3–41.Google Scholar
2Bradley, RH, Corwyn, RF. Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology 2002; 53: 371–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3Bolig, EE, Borkowski, J, Brandenberger, J. Poverty and health across the life span. In: Whitman, TL, Merluzzi, TV, eds. Life Span Perspectives on Health and Illness. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1999; 67–84.Google Scholar
4Guthrie, JF, Morton, JF. Diet-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices of low-income households with children. Journal of Early Education and Family Review 1999; 6(3): 26–33.Google Scholar
5Bradley, RH, Corwyn, RF, McAdoo, HP, Garcia Coll, C. The home environments of children in the United States. Part I: Variations by age, ethnicity, and poverty status. Child Development 2001; 72(6): 1844–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Brooks-Gunn, J, Leventhal, T, Duncan, GJ. Why poverty matters for young children: implications for policy. In: Osofsky, JD, Fitzgerald, HE, eds. Parenting and Child Care. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000; 89–131.Google Scholar
7Hart, B, Risley, TR. Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore, MD: Paul Brookes, 1995.Google Scholar
8Hoff, E. The specificity of environmental influence: socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary via maternal speech. Child Development 2003; 74(5): 1368–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Evans, GW, English, K. The environment of poverty: multiple stressor exposure, psychophysiological stress, and socioemotional adjustment. Child Development 2002; 73(4): 1238–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10Koch, R, Lewis, MT, Quinones, W. Homeless: mothering at rock bottom. In: Coll, CG, Surrey, JL, eds. Mothering Against the Odds: Diverse Voices of Contemporary Mothers. New York: The Guilford Press, 1998; 61–84.Google Scholar
11Hsieh, C-C, Pugh, MD. Poverty, income inequality, and violent crime: a meta-analysis of recent aggregate data studies. In: Kawachi, I, Kennedy, BP, Wilkinson, RG, eds. Income Inequality and Health. New York: The New Press, 1999; 278–96.Google Scholar
12Karns, JT. Health, nutrition and safety. In: Bremner, G, Fogel, A, eds. Handbook of Infant Development. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001; 693–725.Google Scholar
13Cohen, DA, Mason, K, Bedimo, A, Scribner, R, Basolo, V, Farley, TA. Neighborhood physical conditions and health. American Journal of Public Health 2003; 93(3): 467–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14Jacobs, DE, Clickner, RP, Zhou, JY, Viet, SM, Marker, DA, Rogers, JW, et al. The prevalence of lead-based paint hazards in US housing. Environmental Health Perspectives 2002; 110(10): A599–606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15Wamboldt, FS, Ho, J, Milgrom, H, Wamboldt, MZ, Sanders, B, Szefler, SJ, et al. Prevalence and correlates of household exposures to tobacco smoke and pets in children with asthma. Journal of Pediatrics 2002; 141(1): 109–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16Guo, G, Harris, KM. The mechanisms mediating the effects of poverty on children's intellectual development. Demography 2000; 37: 431–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17Grantham McGregor, S, Fernald, LC, Ani, CC. The role of nutrition in intellectual and behavioral development in children. In: Sternberg, R, ed. Environmental Effects on Cognitive Abilities. Cambridge, MA: Laurence Erlbaum Associates, 119–55.Google Scholar
18Florenco, CA. Nutrition, Health and Other Determinants of Academic Achievement and School Related Behavior of Grade One to Grade Six Pupils. Quezon City: University of the Philippines, 1988.Google Scholar
19Chun, FY. Nutrition and education – a study. Journal of the Singapore Pediatric Society 1971; 13(2): 91–6.Google ScholarPubMed
20Cravioto, J, DeLicardie, E, Birch, H. Nutrition, growth, and neuro-integrative development: an experimental and ecologic study. Pediatrics 1966; 38: 319–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21Monckeberg, F. Malnutrition and mental capacity. In: Nutrition, The Nervous System and Behaviour. Scientific Publication No. 251. Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization, 1972; 48–54.Google Scholar
22Powell, C, Grantham-McGregor, S. The associations between nutritional status, school achievement and school attendance in 12-year old children at a Jamaican school. West Indian Medical Journal 1980; 29: 247–53.Google Scholar
23Freeman, HE, Klein, RE, Townsend, JW, Lechtig, A. Nutrition and cognitive development among rural Guatemalan children. American Journal of Public Health 1980; 70(12): 1277–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24Jamison, D. Child malnutrition and school performance in China. Journal of Development Economics 1986; 20: 299–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25Bogin, B, MacVean, RB. The relationship of socioeconomic status and sex to body size, skeletal maturation, and cognitive status of Guatemala City schoolchildren. Child Development 1983; 54(1): 115–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26Moock, PR, Leslie, J. Childhood malnutrition and schooling in the Teri region of Nepal. Journal of Development Economics 1986; 20: 33–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27Agarwal, DK, Upadhyay, SK, Tripathi, AM, Agarwal, KN. Nutritional Status, Physical Work Capacity and Mental Function in School Children. Report No. 6. New Delhi: Nutrition Foundation of India, 1987.Google Scholar
28Sigman, M, Neumann, C, Jansen, AA, Bwibo, N. Cognitive abilities of Kenyan children in relation to nutrition, family characteristics, and education. Child Development 1989; 60(6): 1463–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29Paine, P, Dorea, JG, Pasquali, L, Monteiro, AM. Growth and cognition in Brazilian schoolchildren: a spontaneously occurring intervention study. International Journal of Behavioral Development 1992; 15(2): 169–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30Clarke, N, Grantham-McGregor, SM, Powell, C. Nutrition and health predictors of school failure in Jamaican children. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 1991; 26: 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31Lasky, RE, Klein, RE, Yarbrough, C, Engle, PL, Lechtig, A, Martorell, R. The relationship between physical growth and infant behavioral development in rural Guatemala. Child Development 1981; 52(1): 219–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32Powell, CA, Grantham McGregor, S. The ecology of nutritional status and development in young children in Kingston, Jamaica. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1985; 41(6): 1322–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33Grantham McGregor, SM, Walker, SP, Chang, SM, Powell, CA. Effects of early childhood supplementation with and without stimulation on later development in stunted Jamaican children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1997; 66(2): 247–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34Fernald, LC, Grantham-McGregor, SM. Stress response in children who have been growth retarded since early childhood. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1998; 68(3): 691–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35Leslie, J, Jamison, D. Health and nutrition considerations in education planning 1. Educational consequences of health problems among school-age children. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 1990; 12: 191–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36Glewwe, P, Jacoby, H. An economic analysis of delayed primary school enrollment in a low income country: the role of early childhood nutrition. Review of Economics and Statistics 1995; 77(1): 156–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37Boissiere, M, Knight, JB, Sabot, R. Earnings, schooling, ability and cognitive skills. American Economics Review 1985; 75: 1016–30.Google Scholar
38Deolalikar, AB. Nutrition and labor productivity in agriculture: estimates for rural South India. Review of Economics and Statistics 1988; 70(3): 406–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
39Haddad, L, Bouis, H. The impact of nutritional status on agricultural productivity: wage evidence from the Philippines. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 1991; 53(1): 45–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40Strauss, J. Does better nutrition raise farm productivity?. Journal of Political Economy 1986; 94: 297–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
41Thomas, D, Strauss, J. Health and wages: evidence on men and women in urban Brazil. Journal of Econometrics 1997; 77(1): 159–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
42Sen, A. Development as Freedom, New York: Knopf, 1999.Google Scholar
43Nelson, CA. The neurobiological basis of early intervention. In: Shonkoff, JP, Meisels, SJ, eds. Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000; 204–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
44Black, MM, Hess, CR, Berenson-Howard, J. Toddlers from low-income families have below normal mental, motor, and behavior scores on the revised Bayley scales. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 2000; 21(6): 655–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
45Werner, EE. Protective factors and individual resilience. In: Shonkoff, JP, Meisels, SJ, eds. Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000; 115–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
46Gottlieb, G. Experiential canalization of behavioral development: theory. Developmental Psychology 1991; 27(1): 4–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47Gertler, PJ. Do conditional cash transfers improve child health? Evidence from PROGRESA's controlled randomized experiment. American Economics Review 2004; 94(2): 331–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
48Rivera, JA, Sotres-Alvarez, D, Habicht, JP, Shamah, T, Villalpando, S. Impact of the Mexican program for education, health, and nutrition (Progresa) on rates of growth and anemia in infants and young children: a randomized effectiveness study. Journal of the American Medical Association 2004; 291(21): 2563–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
49Del Pozo-González, B, Aparicio-Jiménez, R. Criterios para la selección de la muestra de evaluación del Programa de Educación, Salud y Alimentación en localidades urbanas y semi-urbanas [Criteria for the Selection of the Evaluation Sample of the Program of Education, Health and Nutrition (PROGRESA) in Urban and Semi-urban Areas]. Cuernavaca, Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, 2002.Google Scholar
50Lohman, TG, Roche, AF, Martorell, R. Anthropometric Standardization Reference Manual. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books, 1989.Google Scholar
51National Center for Health Statistics/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/World Health Organization. ANTHRO: Software for Calculating Pediatric Anthropometry version 1.02.Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1999.Google Scholar
52Bayley, N. Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd ed. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation, 1993.Google Scholar
53Bradley-Johnson, S. Cognitive assessment for the youngest children: a critical review of tests. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 2001; 19: 19–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
54Feinstein, L. Inequality in the early cognitive development of British children in the 1970 cohort. Economica 2003; 70: 73–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
55Wright, RO, Hu, H, Silverman, EK, Tsaih, SW, Schwartz, J, Bellinger, D, et al. Apolipoprotein E genotype predicts 24-month Bayley scales infant development score. Pediatric Research 2003; 54(6): 819–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
56Gomaa, A, Hu, H, Bellinger, D, Schwartz, J, Tsaih, SW, Gonzalez-Cossio, T, et al. Maternal bone lead as an independent risk factor for fetal neurotoxicity: a prospective study. Pediatrics 2002; 1(1 Pt 1): 110–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
57Backstrand, JR, Allen, LH, Martinez, E, Pelto, GH. Maternal consumption of pulque, a traditional central Mexican alcoholic beverage: relationships to infant growth and development. Public Health Nutrition 2001; 4(4): 883–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
58Solomons, HC. Standardization of the Denver developmental screening test on infants from Yucatan. Mexico. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research 1982; 5(2): 179–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
59Shonkoff, JP, Miesels, SJ, eds. Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
60Kuhn, D, Siegler, RS. Handbook of Child Psychology, 5th ed. Vol. 2: Cognition, Perception and Language. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1998.Google Scholar
61United Nations Children's Fund. The State of the World's Children 2004. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
62Hess, CR, Papas, MA, Black, MM. Use of the Bayley infant neurodevelopmental screener with an environmental risk group. Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2004; 29(5): 321–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
63Lima, MC, Eickmann, SH, Lima, ACV, Guerra, MQ, Lira, PIC, Huttly, SRA, et al. Determinants of mental and motor development at 12 months in a low income population: a cohort study in northeast Brazil. Acta Paediatrica 2004; 93(7): 969–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
64del Río-Navarro, BE, Velázquez-Monroy, O, Sánchez-Castillo, CP, Lara-Esqueda, A, Berber, A, Fanghänel, G, et al. The high prevalence of overweight and obesity in Mexican children. Obesity Research 2004; 12(2): 215–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
65Grantham-McGregor, S, Ani, C. A review of studies on the effect of iron deficiency on cognitive development in children. Journal of Nutrition 2001; 131(Suppl. 2): 649S–66S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
66Wagstaff, A, Bustreo, G, Bryce, J, Claeson, M, and the WHO-World Bank Child Health and Poverty Working Group Child health: reaching the poor. American Journal of Public Health 2004; 94(5): 726–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
67Villalpando, S, Lopez-Alarcon, M. Growth faltering is prevented by breast-feeding in underprivileged infants from Mexico City. Journal of Nutrition 2000; 130(3): 546–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
68Temboury, MC, Otero, A, Polanco, I, Arribas, E. Influence of breast-feeding on the infant's intellectual development. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 1994; 18(1): 32–6.Google ScholarPubMed
69Florey, CD, Leech, AM, Blackhall, A. Infant feeding and mental and motor development at 18 months of age in first born singletons. International Journal of Epidemiology 1995; 24(Suppl. 1): S21–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
70Morley, R, Cole, TJ, Powell, R, Lucas, A. Mother's choice to provide breast milk and developmental outcome. Archives of Disease in Childhood 1988; 63(11): 1382–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
71Morrow Tlucak, M, Haude, RH, Ernhart, CB. Breastfeeding and cognitive development in the first 2 years of life. Social Science & Medicine 1988; 26(6): 635–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
72Rogan, WJ, Gladen, BC. Breast-feeding and cognitive development. Early Human Development 1993; 31(3): 181–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
73Rutter, M. Protective factors in children's responses to stress and disadvantage. In: Kent, MW, Rolf, JE, eds. Primary Prevention of Psychopathology. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1979; 49–74.Google Scholar
74Sameroff, AJ, Seifer, R, Baldwin, A, Baldwin, C. Stability of intelligence from preschool to adolescence: the influence of social and family risk factors. Child Development 1993; 64(1): 80–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
75Breitmayer, BJ, Ramey, CT. Biological nonoptimality and quality of postnatal environment as codeterminants of intellectual development. Child Development 1986; 57(5): 1151–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
76Sameroff, AJ, Seifer, R, Barocas, R, Zax, M, Greenspan, S. Intelligence quotient scores of 4-year-old children: social-environmental risk factors. Pediatrics 1987; 79(3): 343–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
77Evans, GW. A multimethodological analysis of cumulative risk and allostatic load among rural children. Developmental Psychology 2003; 39(5): 924–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
78Hooper, SR, Burchinal, M, Roberts, JE, Zeisel, S, Neebe, EC. Social and family risk factors for infant development at one year: an application of the cumulative risk model.Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 1998; 19(1): 85–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
79Hart, B, Risley, TR. American parenting of language-learning children: persisting differences in family-child interactions observed in natural home environments. Developmental Psychology 1992; 28: 1096–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
80Martorell, R. Results and implications of the INCAP follow-up study. Journal of Nutrition 1995; 125(Suppl. 4): 1127S–38S.Google ScholarPubMed
81Walker, SP, Grantham-McGregor, SM, Powell, CA, Chang, SM. Effects of growth restriction in early childhood on growth, IQ, and cognition at age 11 to 12 years and the benefits of nutritional supplementation and psychosocial stimulation. Journal of Pediatrics 2000; 137(1): 36–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
82Walker, SP, Chang, SM, Powell, CA, Grantham-McGregor, SM. Psychosocial intervention improves the development of term low-birth-weight infants. Journal of Nutrition 2004; 134(6): 1417–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed