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Abstract ObjectivesInvestigations of early childhood growth among small‐scale populations are essential for understanding human life history variation and enhancing the ability to serve such communities through global public health initiatives. This study characterizes early childhood growth trajectories and identifies differences in growth patterns relative to international references among Daasanach semi‐nomadic pastoralist children living in a hot, arid region of northern Kenya. MethodsA large sample of height and weight measures were collected from children (N = 1756; total observations = 4508; age = 0–5 years) between 2018 and 2020. Daasanach growth was compared to international reference standards and Daasanach‐specific centile growth curves and pseudo‐velocity models were generated using generalized additive models for location scale and size. ResultsCompared to World Health Organization (WHO) reference, relatively few Daasanach children were stunted (14.3%), while a large proportion were underweight (38.5%) and wasted (53.6%). Additionally, Daasanach children had a distinctive pattern of growth, marked by an increase in linear growth velocity after 24 months of age and relatively high linear growth velocity throughout the rest of early childhood. ConclusionsThese results identify a unique pattern of early childhood growth faltering among children in a small‐scale population and may reflect a thermoregulatory adaptation to their hot, arid environment. As linear growth and weight gain remain important indicators of health, the results of this study provide insight into growth velocity variations. This study has important implications for global public health efforts to identify and address sources of early growth faltering and undernutrition in small‐scale populations.
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Disentangling basal and accrued height‐for‐age for cross‐population comparisons
Abstract ObjectivesCurrent standards for comparing stunting across human populations assume a universal model of child growth. Such comparisons ignore population differences that are independent of deprivation and health outcomes. This article partitions variation in height‐for‐age that is specifically associated with deprivation and health outcomes to provide a basis for cross‐population comparisons. Materials and MethodsUsing a multilevel model with a sigmoid relationship of resources and growth, we partition variation in height‐for‐agez‐scores (HAZ) from 1.5 million children across 70 countries into two components: (1) “accrued HAZ” shaped by environmental inputs (e.g., undernutrition, infectious disease, inadequate sanitation, poverty) and (2) a country‐specific “basal HAZ” independent of such inputs. We validate these components against population‐level infant mortality rates and assess how these basal differences may affect cross‐population comparisons of stunting. ResultsBasal HAZ differs reliably across countries (range of approximately 1.5 SD) and is independent of measures of infant mortality. By contrast, accrued HAZ captures stunting as impaired growth due to deprivation and is more closely associated with infant mortality than observed HAZ. Assessing stunting prevalence by accrued HAZ suggest that populations in West Africa and Haiti suffer much greater levels of stunting than indicated by observed HAZ. DiscussionCurrent universal standards may dramatically underestimate stunting in populations with taller basal HAZ. Relying on observed HAZ rather than accrued HAZ may also lead to inappropriate cross‐population comparisons, such as concluding that Haitian children enjoy better conditions for growth than do Indian or Guatemalan children.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1658766
- PAR ID:
- 10458686
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- American Journal of Physical Anthropology
- Volume:
- 171
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0002-9483
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 481-495
- Size(s):
- p. 481-495
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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