Correlation between nutritional status and development of children up to 5 years of age, living in extreme poverty

Abstract

In order to identify possible correlations between developmental skills and types of undernutrition in children living in extreme poverty, 819 children aging between 4.87 and 60.90 months were examined. Developmental status was assessed using the Denver-II-Jimma, nutritional status was determined using anthropometric measurements. Multiple linear regression was used to examine possible correlations between different types of malnutrition and developmental skills. Significant predictors (p < .05) for the developmental domains of the Denver-II-Jimma were: stunting and wasting for social-personal; stunting, age in months, and wasting for language; age in months, stunting and underweight for fine motor-adaptive; age in months, stunting and underweight for gross motor. The correlations between nutritional status and the domains of the Denver II-Jimma were always negative.