Home »  Child Development »  Tall mothers, healthier children

Tall mothers, healthier children

In developing countries, taller mothers tend to give birth to healthier children who are less likely to die in infancy, be underweight or have stunted growth, a new study finds.

Tall mothers, healthier children

In developing countries, taller mothers tend to give birth to healthier children who are less likely to die in infancy, be underweight or have stunted growth, a new study finds.

Past research has shown that mother's stature is an important factor that determines a baby's development in the womb and low birth weight, especially in developing countries. However, evidence for whether risks associated with shorter maternal stature have a lasting influence on the offspring's health during infancy and childhood is limited and inconclusive. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health investigated the potential long-term effects of mother's stature on offspring mortality, underweight, stunting, and wasting in infancy and early childhood.

This is the first study to show the effects of the mother's health being transferred well into the childhood of her offspring. Researchers looked at the data from 109 demographic and heath surveys done in 54 developing countries between 1991 and 2008 to examine the association between mother's stature and mortality, underweight, stunting and wasting in children younger than 5 years of age. The sample sizes were 26,61,519 (mortality), 5,87,096 (underweight), 5,58,347 (stunting) and 5,68,609 (wasting) children and more than three quarters of a million women between the ages of 15 and 49.The mothers were separated into 5 height categories, ranging from under four feet nine inches to taller than five feet three inches.

It was found that overall 12 percent of the children died before the age of five years. With each drop in height category, the risk of child mortality increased substantially. Children born to the shortest moms had about a 40 percent higher risk of dying during childhood than those born to the tallest mothers. The risk of death among those born to the tallest mothers was about one in 14, compared to about one in seven for those born to the shortest mothers.

More pronounced discrepancies were noted in children's failure to flourish physically. Each lower height category in the mothers was associated with a substantially higher risk of their children being underweight and having stunted growth.
Maternal height was the most important factor in determining risk of growth failure, twice the effect of a mother's education and 1.5 times the effect of her income.

It was concluded that shorter maternal stature is a risk factor for offspring mortality, underweight, and stunting in developing countries. This suggests the presence of an intergenerational transmission from mother's own nutrition, disease, and socioeconomic circumstances during her childhood to her offspring's health and mortality in their infancy and childhood.
COMMENT

DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, weight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.

Was this Article Helpful Yes or No

................... Advertisement ...................

 

................... Advertisement ...................

................... Advertisement ...................

................... Advertisement ...................

--------------------------------Advertisement---------------------------------- -