Nandi Arindam, Zahra Fatima, Austrian Karen, Haberland Nicole, Ngô Thoại D
The Population Council, New York City, New York, USA.
One Health Trust, Washington, DC, USA.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2023 Apr;1522(1):139-148. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14984. Epub 2023 Mar 15.
Adolescent motherhood has been linked with poor health outcomes at birth for children, including high neonatal mortality, low birthweight, and small-for-gestational-age rates. However, longer-term growth outcomes in the children of adolescent mothers in low-resource settings remain inadequately studied. We used longitudinal data from the India Human Development Surveys, 2004-2005 and 2011-2012 (n = 12,182) and employed regression and propensity score matching analysis to compare the following growth indicators of children born to adolescent mothers (ages 19 years or below) with those born to older mothers. Growth indicators included height and weight during ages 0-5 years and 6-12 years and change in height and weight between the two periods. In regression-based estimates, children born to adolescent mothers were 0.01 m shorter and weighed 0.2 kg less than children of older mothers at ages 0-5 years. At ages 6-12 years, those born to adolescent mothers were 0.02 m shorter and weighed 0.97 kg less. The height difference between the two groups increased by 0.01 m and the weight difference grew by 0.77 kg over time. Height and weight difference between the two groups worsened among boys over time, while for girls, only the weight gap worsened. The results were similar when using propensity score matching methods. Public policies for reducing child marriage, combined with targeted health, nutrition, and well-being programs for adolescent mothers, are essential for both preventing adolescent childbearing and reducing its impact on growth failure among children in India.
青少年母亲生育与孩子出生时的不良健康结局有关，包括高新生儿死亡率、低出生体重和小于胎龄率。然而，资源匮乏地区青少年母亲所生孩子的长期生长结局仍未得到充分研究。我们使用了2004 - 2005年和2011 - 2012年印度人类发展调查的纵向数据（n = 12182），并采用回归分析和倾向得分匹配分析，比较青少年母亲（19岁及以下）所生孩子与年龄较大母亲所生孩子的以下生长指标。生长指标包括0至5岁和6至12岁期间的身高和体重，以及两个时期之间身高和体重的变化。在基于回归的估计中，青少年母亲所生孩子在0至5岁时比年龄较大母亲的孩子矮0.01米，体重轻0.2千克。在6至12岁时，青少年母亲所生孩子矮0.02米，体重轻0.97千克。随着时间的推移，两组之间的身高差异增加了0.01米，体重差异增加了0.77千克。随着时间的推移，两组男孩之间的身高和体重差异恶化，而对于女孩，只有体重差距恶化。使用倾向得分匹配方法时结果相似。减少童婚的公共政策，结合针对青少年母亲实施的有针对性的健康、营养和福利计划对于预防青少年生育以及减少其对印度儿童生长发育不良的影响至关重要。
