Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39882303›Full record

ArticleBMJ nutrition, prevention & health2024

Early life adverse environmental, nutrition and infection factors are associated with lower developmental scores in Pakistani children at 5 years: a cohort study.

Doris González-Fernández, Aisha Yousafzai, Simon Cousens, Arjumand Rizvi, Imran Ahmed, Sajid Bashir Soofi, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

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Article in BMJ nutrition, prevention & health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Doris González-FernándezCentre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Aisha YousafzaiDepartment of Global Health and Population, Harvard University T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Simon CousensDepartment of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Arjumand RizviAga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Imran AhmedAga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Sajid Bashir SoofiPediatrics & Child Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.ORCID 0000-0003-4192-8406
Zulfiqar Ahmed BhuttaCentre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-0637-599X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The effects of multiple early adverse psychosocial and biological factors on child development at preschool age in deprived settings are not fully understood. Methods: The 'Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development' (MAL-ED) project followed children from eight countries, recording sociodemographic, nutritional, illness, enteroinfection biomarkers and scores for quality of home environment (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME)), development (Bayley) and maternal depression during the first year of life. In the Pakistan cohort, we investigated associations of these early factors with Z-scores (derived from the eight participating countries) of three developmental outcomes at 5 years: Executive Functions (Z-EF), the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale for Intelligence (Z-WPPSI) and the externalising behaviours component of the Strength and Difficulties test (Z-externalising behaviours). Results: Most children had 5-year development measurements below other MAL-ED countries (Z-EF<0, 80.3%, Z-WPPSI<0, 69.3%) and 45.6% had Z-externalising behaviours>0. Higher Z-EF was associated with higher HOME (coeff: 0.03 (95% CI 0.005, 0.05), p=0.017) and Bayley scores (0.01 (0.002, 0.01), p=0.010). Higher Z-WPPSI was associated with more household assets (0.02 (0.01, 0.03), p=0.003), but with lower alpha-1 antitrypsin (µmol/L, protein-losing enteropathy) (-0.01 (-0.02, -0.005), p=0.003). Lower externalising behaviour was associated with female sex (-0.30 (-0.53, -0.08), p=0.009), higher soluble-transferrin-receptors (mg/L) (-0.07 (-0.14, -0.01), p=0.024) and initiation of solids/semisolids≥6 months (-0.16 (-0.31, -0.01), p=0.033), but higher externalising behaviour was associated with underweight (0.35 (0.07, 0.62), p=0.014), more diarrhoeal episodes (0.03 (0.004, 0.06), p=0.022) and higher Maternal Depression Score (0.04 (0.01, 0.07), p=0.003) in the first year. Conclusion: Adverse environmental, nutrition and infectious factors, and indicators of deprived early development in the first year of life have a negative association with developmental scores at 5 years. Addressing early stressors, improving diet, infections and environment stimulation early in life could positively impact child development in resource-constrained settings.

Indexed as

Cognitive performanceInfectious disease

Identifiers

PMID39882303
PMCPMC11773647

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