Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35102394›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of nutrition2022

Caregivers Systematically Overestimate Their Child's Height-for-Age Relative to Other Children in Rural Ethiopia.

Simone Passarelli, Christopher Sudfeld, Kirsten K Davison, Wafaie Fawzi, Katherine Donato, Masresha Tessema, Nilupa S Gunaratna, Hugo De Groote, Jessica Cohen, Margaret McConnell

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of nutrition, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 47% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.

Simone PassarelliDepartment of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1044-3393
Christopher SudfeldDepartment of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3203-3638
Kirsten K DavisonDepartment of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Wafaie FawziDepartment of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Katherine DonatoBoston Consulting Group, Denver, CO, USA.
Masresha TessemaEthiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Nilupa S GunaratnaDepartment of Public Health, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
Hugo De GrooteInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Nairobi, Kenya.
Jessica CohenDepartment of Global Health and Population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Margaret McConnellDepartment of Global Health and Population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3437-3249
Harvard University · USHarvard Global Health Institute · USBoston College · USBoston Consulting Group (United States)Ethiopian Public Health Institute · ETInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center · KEPurdue University West Lafayette · US

Funding

TRAINING GRANT IN ACADEMIC NUTRITIONT32DK007703 · NIDDK · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SCH OF PUBLIC HLTH) · PI CHRISTOPHER P DUGGAN, Frank B Hu · 1994 to 2026
$7.8M
NIDDK NIH HHS T32 DK007703
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundStunting affects one-quarter of children <5 y of age, yet little is known about the accuracy of caregivers' perceptions regarding their child's linear growth. Most existing quantitative research on this topic has been conducted in high-income countries and has examined perceptions of children's weight rather than height.

objectivesIn rural Ethiopia where linear growth faltering is highly prevalent, this study aimed to better understand how caregivers perceive their child's growth. The objectives of this analysis were to 1) assess caregivers' perceptions of their child's height; 2) investigate whether there is a discrepancy between a child's actual height and caregivers' perceptions of their child's height; and 3) examine the factors that influence discrepancies in estimating a child's height (secondary outcomes), including the role of the average height in the community (primary outcome).

methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from 808 woman caregivers of children ages 6-35 mo in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. We assessed caregivers' rankings (from 1 to 10) of their child's height relative to other children their age in their village. We then converted these rankings to z scores based on an age- and region-specific distribution in order to calculate their difference with the child's actual height-for-age z score and to determine the degree of overestimation. Lastly, we used multivariate log Poisson regressions to determine factors associated with overestimating a child's height.

resultsForty-three percent of caregivers scored their child's height as the median; 37% overestimated their child's height relative to other children. Regression results showed caregivers who were poorer, and had children who were female, older, and stunted, were more likely to overestimate.

conclusionsOur findings suggest that caregivers of young children in Oromia systematically overestimated their children's height, which could adversely affect child health if these misperceptions translate to insufficient care-seeking behavior or feeding choices for children.

Indexed as

CaregiversRural PopulationAdolescentAdultChildChild, PreschoolCross-Sectional StudiesEthiopiaFemaleGrowth DisordersHumansMaleYoung Adultcaregiverchild growthEthiopiaperceptionsstunting

Identifiers

PMID35102394
PMCPMC9071331
OpenAlexW4210788698

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.