Ngwira Alfred, Munthali Eddons C S, Vwalika Kondwani D
Department of Basic Sciences, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe, Malawi.
Department of Mathematical Science, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi.
J Public Health Afr. 2017 Jul 3;8(1):620. doi: 10.4081/jphia.2017.620. eCollection 2017 Jun 23.
Childhood undernutrition is an important public health problem. Many studies have investigated the factors of childhood undernutrition, but not the association between the undernutrition indicators. This study aimed at investigating the association between the childhood undernutrition indicators. A loglinear model of cell counts of a three way table of stunting, wasting, and underweight was fitted based on the 2010 Malawi demographic health survey data. Interaction terms in the model depicted deviations from independence. A multiple correspondence analysis of undernutrition indicators was also plotted to have a visual impression of association of the undernutrition variables. A loglinear model showed that underweight was associated with both stunting (P<0.001), and wasting (P<0.001). There was no association between stunting and wasting (P=1). Furthermore there was no three way association of stunting, wasting and underweight (P=1). Lack of three way interaction of stunting, wasting and underweight means that childhood undernutrition multidimensional nature is still valid, and no each indicator can represent the other.
儿童期营养不良是一个重要的公共卫生问题。许多研究调查了儿童期营养不良的因素，但未研究营养不良指标之间的关联。本研究旨在调查儿童期营养不良指标之间的关联。基于2010年马拉维人口健康调查数据，对发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足的三维表格的单元格计数进行对数线性模型拟合。模型中的交互项描述了与独立性的偏差。还绘制了营养不良指标的多重对应分析，以直观了解营养不良变量之间的关联。对数线性模型显示，体重不足与发育迟缓（P<0.001）和消瘦（P<0.001）均相关。发育迟缓和消瘦之间无关联（P=1）。此外，发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足之间不存在三维关联（P=1）。发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足缺乏三维交互作用意味着儿童期营养不良的多维性质仍然成立，且每个指标都不能代表其他指标。
