Garenne Michel. (2020). Taller but thinner : trends in child anthropometry in Senegal, 1990-2015. Public Health Nutritition, 23 (13), p. 2365-2372. ISSN 1368-9800.
Titre du document
Taller but thinner : trends in child anthropometry in Senegal, 1990-2015
Public Health Nutritition, 2020,
23 (13), p. 2365-2372 ISSN 1368-9800
Objective : To investigate trends in child anthropometry in Senegal between 1990
and 2015 and relate them with potential causes. Several hypotheses were tested:
changes in health status, income, diet and socio-economic status.
Design : Statistical analysis of trends in anthropometric data: height, weight, BMI
and associated Z-scores calculated with the CDC-2000 standard (Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention): height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ)
and weight-for-height (WHZ). Trends were fitted with linear regression models
and were related with changes in health and socio-economic status.
Setting: Nine nationally representative samples of Senegalese children aged
12-59 months, taken between 1986 and 2017 by Demographic and Health
Surveys (DHS).
Participants : Children aged 12-59 months.
Results : Over the 25 years of investigation, the average height of children increased
by þ1·88 cm, their average weight by þ0·10 kg, but their BMI decreased by
-0·53 kg/m2. Corresponding changes expressed in Z-scores were þ0·454 in
HAZ, þ0·109 in WAZ and -0·302 in WHZ. This pattern of decreasing stunting while
increasing wasting was correlated with decreasing child mortality, despite small
changes in income per capita and in adult heights or BMI. Largest improvements
in HAZ were among the lower socio-economic strata, while largest declines in
WHZ were among higher socio-economic strata.
Conclusions : Decline in stunting appeared associated primarily with the control of
infectious diseases, also responsible for the mortality decline. Increase in wasting
was surprising. It appears associated with small changes in income per capita, and
therefore in diet, in a context of increasing height.
