ArticlePloS one2019
Nutritional status, cognitive achievement, and educational attainment of children aged 8-11 in rural South India.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Childhood stunting and cognitive development: a meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2025Pooled it
- Role of Nutrition in Cognitive Development and Academic Performance During Adolescence: A Comprehensive Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- The early advantage: How antenatal care shapes cognitive development in India: Evidence from Young Lives, India.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Open Defecation, Livestock Ownership, and Child Nutritional Status in India.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Article
- Early Weight Status and Human Capital in Adulthood: A 32-Year Follow-Up of the 1970 British Cohort Study.International journal of public health · 2024Article
- Factors driving underweight, wasting, and stunting among urban school aged children: Evidence from Merawi town, Northwest Ethiopia.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Does early childhood adversities affect physical, cognitive and language development in indian children? Evidence from a panel study.SSM - population health · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMalnutrition among children is one of the most pressing health concerns middle- and low-income countries face today, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Early-life malnutrition has been shown to affect long-term health and income. One hypothesized channel linking early-life malnutrition and long-term outcomes is cognitive development. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the relationship between nutritional status and cognitive achievement in middle childhood. STUDY
designAs part of the South India Community Health Study (SICHS), we collected educational attainment and anthropometric data from 1,194 children in rural Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, India, and assessed their math and reading skills. We analyzed the relationship between continuous and binary anthropometric measures of nutritional status and three measures of cognitive achievement (reading, math, and grade level), adjusting for potential confounders, using a regression framework.
resultsLower height-for-age and weight-for-age and their corresponding binary measures (stunting, underweight) were associated with lower reading scores, lower math scores, and lower grade level, with the exception of the association between weight-for-age and reading, which was marginally significant. A stunted child had one-third of a grade disadvantage compared to a non-stunted counterpart, whereas an underweight child had one-fourth of a grade disadvantage compared to a non-underweight counterpart. Lower BMI-for-age was associated with grade level and marginally associated with lower math scores, and its binary measure (thinness) was marginally associated with lower math scores.
conclusionsAcute and chronic malnutrition in middle childhood were negatively associated with math scores, reading scores, and educational attainment. Our study provides new evidence that cognitive achievement during middle childhood could be an important mechanism underlying the association between early-life malnutrition and long-term wellbeing.
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