ArticleMaternal & child nutrition2015
Undernutrition among infants less than 6 months of age: an underestimated public health problem in India.
Article in Maternal & child nutrition, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Guideline
- Routine antibiotics for infants less than 6 months of age with growth failure/faltering: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2023Pooled it
- Undernutrition in Infants Aged Under Six Months: A Multi-Center Cross-Sectional Study in Two Governorates in Yemen.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Weight-for-age and mid-upper arm circumference versus weight-for-length as severe acute malnutrition indicators: A validation study in under-6-month infants.Bioinformation · 2026Article
- Evaluation of safety and health risk characterization of some baby foods in Ghana.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Impact of WHO-2023 Malnutrition Criteria on Caseload of Infants Aged Under Six Months: Secondary Data Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- Drivers of Stunting Reduction in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: A Case Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Protocol for a systematic review on routine use of antibiotics for infants less than 6 months of age with growth failure/faltering.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Health and nutritional status of children hospitalized during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangladesh.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2022Article
- Article
- 100 days outcome of severe wasting in hospitalised infants <6 months of age.Public health nutrition · 2021Observational
- Towards identifying malnutrition among infants under 6 months: a mixed-methods study of South-Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- Determinants of Breastfeeding Practices and Its Association With Infant Anthropometry: Results From a Prospective Cohort Study in South India.Frontiers in public health · 2020Article
- Eco-geographic patterns of child malnutrition in India and its association with cereal cultivation: An analysis using demographic health survey and agriculture datasets.Wellcome open research · 2020Article
- Determinants of age-specific undernutrition in children aged less than 2 years-the Bangladesh context.Maternal & child nutrition · 2017Article
- Admission profile and discharge outcomes for infants aged less than 6 months admitted to inpatient therapeutic care in 10 countries. A secondary data analysis.Maternal & child nutrition · 2017Article
- The stunting syndrome in developing countries.Paediatrics and international child health · 2014Review
- Risk factors for severe acute malnutrition in children below 5 y of age in India: a case-control study.Indian journal of pediatrics · 2014Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In India most childhood nutrition recommendations and interventions are still not focused on infants under 6 months. Secondary data analyses of National Family Health Survey-3 data from India were analysed to compare the prevalence of wasting, stunting and underweight in infants less than 6 months and 6-59 months. Our results revealed that wasting was higher (31%) in infants less than 6 months (P < 0.05) as compared with children between 6 and 59 months. Thirteen per cent of infants less than 6 months had severe wasting, 30% were underweight and 20% were stunted. Most infants (69%) were exclusively breastfed (EB) for the first 2 months, but exclusive breastfeeding dropped to 50% at 2-3 months and to 27% at 4-5 months. There was no statistically significant difference in wasting and stunting in the EB and not exclusively breastfed (NEB) groups. Significantly fewer EB infants were underweight (28%) compared with NEB infants (31%) (P = 0.030). However, among EB children, 29% had wasting and 21% were stunted. Eleven per cent of EB infants were severely underweight, 13% were severely wasted and 9% were severely stunted. Diarrhoea was significantly lower among EB infants compared with NEB infants (P < 0.05). We conclude that infants less than 6 months of age are vulnerable to suffer from acute severe malnutrition irrespective of their breastfeeding status and need to be seriously considered for inclusion in national guidelines for early detection and management of undernutrition.
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