Associations of Suboptimal Growth with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in Children under Five Years: A Pooled Analysis of Ten Prospective Studies
Ibironke Olofin;Christine M. McDonald;Majid Ezzati;Seth Flaxman;Robert E. Black;Wafaie W. Fawzi;Laura E. Caulfield;Goodarz Danaei;for the Nutrition Impact Model Study (anthropometry cohort pooling);
PloS one2013Vol. 8pp. e64636-
388
olofin2013plosassociations
Abstract
Background Child undernutrition affects millions of children globally. We investigated associations between suboptimal growth and mortality by pooling large studies. Methods Pooled analysis involving children 1 week to 59 months old in 10 prospective studies in Africa, Asia and South America. Utilizing most recent measurements, we calculated weight-for-age, height/length-for-age and weight-for-height/length Z scores, applying 2006 WHO Standards and the 1977 NCHS/WHO Reference. We estimated all-cause and cause-specific mortality hazard ratios (HR) using proportional hazards models comparing children with mild (−2≤Z