Department of Statistics, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
College of Law and Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4000Durban, South Africa.
Public Health Nutr. 2022 Nov;25(11):3016-3024. doi: 10.1017/S1368980022001823. Epub 2022 Aug 26.
To examine the association between childhood stunting and grade completion (as educational outcome) in South Africa.
Longitudinal study. Data were obtained using the National Income Dynamics Study over five waves (2008 to 2017). Children were tracked at wave 1 in 2008 until wave 5 in 2017 to determine their total years of schooling. We controlled for time-variant and time-varying confounding with a marginal structural model to estimate the associations between childhood stunting and subsequent grade completion.
Nationally representative study of South African households.
A total of 2629 children aged 2 and 3 years in 2008.
We observed a substantial decrease in the prevalence of stunting between wave 1 (28·2 %) and wave 4 (8·6 %). Our marginal structural model results suggest that childhood stunting was significantly associated with decreased odds (22 % less likely) of grade completion (OR = 0·78; 95 % CI: 0·40, 0·86; = 0·015), while those who were only stunted during early childhood had a 29 % reduction in the odds of grade completion (OR = 0·71; 95 % CI: 0·51, 0·82; = 0·020).
These findings underscore the fact that stunting is a significant predictor of academic achievement, whose effects might be long-lasting.
探讨南非儿童发育迟缓与学业完成（作为教育成果）之间的关联。
纵向研究。数据来自国家收入动态研究（2008 年至 2017 年）的五个波次。在 2008 年的第 1 波次中对儿童进行追踪，直到 2017 年的第 5 波次，以确定他们的总受教育年限。我们使用边缘结构模型来控制时变和时变混杂因素，以估计儿童发育迟缓与随后的年级完成之间的关联。
南非家庭的全国代表性研究。
共有 2629 名 2 岁和 3 岁的儿童，于 2008 年参加第 1 波次调查。
我们观察到第 1 波次（28.2%）和第 4 波次（8.6%）之间发育迟缓的患病率大幅下降。我们的边缘结构模型结果表明，儿童发育迟缓与年级完成的几率降低显著相关（几率降低 22%，OR=0.78；95%CI：0.40，0.86； = 0.015），而那些仅在幼儿期发育迟缓的儿童，其年级完成的几率降低了 29%（OR=0.71；95%CI：0.51，0.82； = 0.020）。
这些发现强调了发育迟缓是学业成绩的一个重要预测因素，其影响可能是持久的。
