Chandrasenage Damith, Johnson William, Griffiths Paula L
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
Department of Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Public Health Nutr. 2025 Mar 19;28(1):e63. doi: 10.1017/S1368980025000205.
This study investigates and measures whether the association of childhood stunting with household socio-economic position (SEP) differs in Sri Lanka compared with other South Asian countries.
Secondary analysis of data of children from the latest available Demographic and Health Surveys data (survey years, 2016-2018). The exposures (SEP) were maternal education and wealth. The outcome was stunting. Binary logistic regression models incorporated SEP, country and SEP-by-country interaction terms.
A nationally representative sample of children from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Mothers/caregivers of children under 36 months (133 491).
The prevalence of stunting in Sri Lanka of 19 % was much lower than that observed for all the other low- to low-middle income South Asian countries (37 % in Bangladesh, 36 % in India, 31 % in Nepal and 30 % in Pakistan). The association of SEP with odds of stunting was similar in Sri Lanka compared with other South Asian countries. The only exception was weaker associations of wealth with stunting in Sri Lanka compared with Bangladesh. For example, in Sri Lanka, the poorest group had 2·75 (2·06, 3·67) times higher odds of stunting compared with the richest group, but in Bangladesh, this estimate was 4·20 (3·24, 5·44); the difference between these two estimates being 0·65 (0·44, 0·96) on the OR scale.
The lower prevalence of stunting in Sri Lanka is unlikely to be due to less inequality. It is more likely that the lower prevalence of stunting in Sri Lanka is related to there being fewer mothers belonging to the lowest SEP groups.
本研究调查并衡量与其他南亚国家相比，斯里兰卡儿童发育迟缓与家庭社会经济地位（SEP）之间的关联是否存在差异。
对最新的人口与健康调查数据（调查年份为2016 - 2018年）中的儿童数据进行二次分析。暴露因素（SEP）为母亲教育程度和财富状况。结果为发育迟缓。二元逻辑回归模型纳入了SEP、国家以及SEP与国家的交互项。
来自孟加拉国、印度、尼泊尔、巴基斯坦和斯里兰卡的具有全国代表性的儿童样本。
36个月以下儿童的母亲/照料者（133491人）。
斯里兰卡发育迟缓的患病率为19%，远低于其他所有低收入至中低收入的南亚国家（孟加拉国为37%，印度为36%，尼泊尔为31%，巴基斯坦为30%）。与其他南亚国家相比，斯里兰卡SEP与发育迟缓几率之间的关联相似。唯一的例外是，与孟加拉国相比，斯里兰卡财富与发育迟缓之间的关联较弱。例如，在斯里兰卡，最贫困群体发育迟缓的几率是最富裕群体的2.75（2.06，3.67）倍，但在孟加拉国，这一估计值为4.20（3.24，5.44）；在OR量表上，这两个估计值的差异为0.65（0.44，0.96）。
斯里兰卡发育迟缓患病率较低不太可能是由于不平等程度较低。更有可能的是，斯里兰卡发育迟缓患病率较低与属于最低SEP群体的母亲较少有关。
