International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Trop Med Int Health. 2020 Aug;25(8):1016-1023. doi: 10.1111/tmi.13417. Epub 2020 Jul 18.
The objective of the study was to investigate potential risk factors for growth faltering among children under 5 years of age.
We conducted a prospective cohort study of 553 children under 5 years from diarrhoea patient households in urban Dhaka, Bangladesh. Height and weight measurements were obtained at baseline and at a 12-month follow-up. Caregivers of young children were administered a monthly questionnaire on household sociodemographic characteristics and hygiene practices.
Children with caregiver reports of mouthing soil at the majority of household visits had a significant reduction in their height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) from baseline to the 12-month follow-up (ΔHAZ: -0.28 (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.51, -0.05)). A significant reduction in HAZ was also observed for children in households with animals in their sleeping space (ΔHAZ: -0.37 (95% CI: -0.71, -0.04)).
These findings provide further evidence to support the hypothesis that child mouthing of soil and the presence of animals in the child's sleeping space are potential risk factors for growth faltering among young children. Interventions are urgently needed to provide clean play and sleeping spaces for young children to reduce exposure to faecal pathogens through child mouthing.
本研究旨在探讨 5 岁以下儿童生长迟缓的潜在危险因素。
我们对孟加拉国达卡市城区腹泻病患儿家庭的 553 名 5 岁以下儿童进行了前瞻性队列研究。在基线和 12 个月随访时测量身高和体重。对幼儿照顾者进行了关于家庭社会人口学特征和卫生习惯的每月问卷调查。
在大多数家庭访视中，有照顾者报告儿童口含泥土的情况下，儿童的身高年龄 z 评分（HAZ）从基线到 12 个月随访时显著降低（ΔHAZ：-0.28（95%置信区间（CI）：-0.51，-0.05））。在有动物在其睡眠空间的家庭中，儿童的 HAZ 也显著降低（ΔHAZ：-0.37（95% CI：-0.71，-0.04））。
这些发现进一步证明了以下假设，即儿童口含泥土以及儿童睡眠空间存在动物是幼儿生长迟缓的潜在危险因素。迫切需要采取干预措施，为幼儿提供清洁的游戏和睡眠空间，减少儿童口含粪便病原体的暴露。
