Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Growth Analysis of Mixed Ancestry Infants Aged 0 – 18 months, South Africa

Early life nutritional status and subsequent growth trajectory may impact adult health status later in life. In South Africa, children of mixed ancestry (MA, 1-10 years) have a significantly higher risk for stunting (according to WHO growth standards) compared to other population groups. Adults of M...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Arendse, Liesl
Other Authors: Gibbon, Victoria E
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Human Biology 2023
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613266579030016
access_status_str Open Access
author Arendse, Liesl
author2 Gibbon, Victoria E
author_browse Arendse, Liesl
Gibbon, Victoria E
author_facet Gibbon, Victoria E
Arendse, Liesl
author_sort Arendse, Liesl
collection Thesis
description Early life nutritional status and subsequent growth trajectory may impact adult health status later in life. In South Africa, children of mixed ancestry (MA, 1-10 years) have a significantly higher risk for stunting (according to WHO growth standards) compared to other population groups. Adults of MA have the second highest type II diabetes mellitus prevalence, and hypertension doubled between 2008-2016. Insight into healthy MA infant growth may help to explain, in part, this pattern of adult-onset NCDs. This study aimed to document healthy MA infant growth, against the WHO growth standards, in a 0 – 18-month-old cohort. Regression analyses were used to investigate which socio-demographic and/or socio-economic factors related to age-standardised growth. Recruited dyad pairs from three clinics (two public, one private) included 161 infants (boys=71, girls=90), divided into three six-month age groups. Standard nutritional anthropometry was conducted. Statistical associations between age-standardised z-scores with socio-demographic and socio-economic factors (recorded via questionnaires) were assessed, and subsequently used in regression modelling of age-standardised growth. Infants under 6 months grouped between -2 SD and +1 SD for length, weight, and head circumference WHO z-scores; those over 6 months grouped between -1 SD and +2SD. Stunting was more prevalent in infants under six months, and overweight for infants over six months, with a higher prevalence in boys, including wasting. Stunting prevalence in this cohort was under 3%, much lower than the national prevalence reported as 27.5% (<5 years). Conversely, more than 6% were overweight/obese, similar to previous national prevalence (<5 years). Positive significant contributors in regression models were maternal age and education for age-standardised length, weight, and head circumference; gestational age for length and head circumference; exclusive breastfeeding duration for head circumference only; household occupancy and age complementary foods were introduced, for length and weight; explaining some growth trajectory variance within this cohort. Although most of these infants fell within the WHO growth standard norm, the negative age-standardised results for infants under six months may explain overweight/obesity prevalence in those over six months. This research contributes to the knowledge of populational growth differences of healthy full-term infants that may inform the aetiology of adult-onset NCDs.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37309
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:25.185Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of Human Biology
publisherStr Department of Human Biology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37309 Growth Analysis of Mixed Ancestry Infants Aged 0 – 18 months, South Africa Arendse, Liesl Gibbon, Victoria E Brits, Desiré Lambert, Victoria Human Biology Early life nutritional status and subsequent growth trajectory may impact adult health status later in life. In South Africa, children of mixed ancestry (MA, 1-10 years) have a significantly higher risk for stunting (according to WHO growth standards) compared to other population groups. Adults of MA have the second highest type II diabetes mellitus prevalence, and hypertension doubled between 2008-2016. Insight into healthy MA infant growth may help to explain, in part, this pattern of adult-onset NCDs. This study aimed to document healthy MA infant growth, against the WHO growth standards, in a 0 – 18-month-old cohort. Regression analyses were used to investigate which socio-demographic and/or socio-economic factors related to age-standardised growth. Recruited dyad pairs from three clinics (two public, one private) included 161 infants (boys=71, girls=90), divided into three six-month age groups. Standard nutritional anthropometry was conducted. Statistical associations between age-standardised z-scores with socio-demographic and socio-economic factors (recorded via questionnaires) were assessed, and subsequently used in regression modelling of age-standardised growth. Infants under 6 months grouped between -2 SD and +1 SD for length, weight, and head circumference WHO z-scores; those over 6 months grouped between -1 SD and +2SD. Stunting was more prevalent in infants under six months, and overweight for infants over six months, with a higher prevalence in boys, including wasting. Stunting prevalence in this cohort was under 3%, much lower than the national prevalence reported as 27.5% (<5 years). Conversely, more than 6% were overweight/obese, similar to previous national prevalence (<5 years). Positive significant contributors in regression models were maternal age and education for age-standardised length, weight, and head circumference; gestational age for length and head circumference; exclusive breastfeeding duration for head circumference only; household occupancy and age complementary foods were introduced, for length and weight; explaining some growth trajectory variance within this cohort. Although most of these infants fell within the WHO growth standard norm, the negative age-standardised results for infants under six months may explain overweight/obesity prevalence in those over six months. This research contributes to the knowledge of populational growth differences of healthy full-term infants that may inform the aetiology of adult-onset NCDs. 2023-03-07T10:42:47Z 2023-03-07T10:42:47Z 2022 2023-02-20T12:12:56Z Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37309 eng application/pdf Department of Human Biology Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle Human Biology
Arendse, Liesl
Growth Analysis of Mixed Ancestry Infants Aged 0 – 18 months, South Africa
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Growth Analysis of Mixed Ancestry Infants Aged 0 – 18 months, South Africa
title_full Growth Analysis of Mixed Ancestry Infants Aged 0 – 18 months, South Africa
title_fullStr Growth Analysis of Mixed Ancestry Infants Aged 0 – 18 months, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Growth Analysis of Mixed Ancestry Infants Aged 0 – 18 months, South Africa
title_short Growth Analysis of Mixed Ancestry Infants Aged 0 – 18 months, South Africa
title_sort growth analysis of mixed ancestry infants aged 0 18 months south africa
topic Human Biology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37309
work_keys_str_mv AT arendseliesl growthanalysisofmixedancestryinfantsaged018monthssouthafrica