Abstract

CARRASCO QUINTERO, María del Refugio; ORTIZ HERNANDEZ, Luis; ROLDAN AMARO, José Antonio  and  CHAVEZ VILLASANA, Adolfo. Malnutrition and cognitive development if infants in rural marginalized areas in Mexico. Gac Sanit [online]. 2016, vol.30, n.4, pp.304-307. ISSN 0213-9111.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2016.01.009.

Objective: To analyze the relationship between nutritional status measured by anthropometry and the mental, psychomotor and language development of infants in marginalized rural areas of Mexico. Method: Cross-sectional study with 576 infants aged from 7 to 26 months in four rural locations. Variables consisted of measures of anthropometric and cognitive development. Results: Infants with short stature had a lower rate of language development, while birth weight was marginally associated with psychomotor development. Conclusion: Although acute malnutrition (identified by underweight) is no longer a problem in rural areas of Mexico, chronic malnutrition (expressed as stunting) is still common and is associated with alterations in mental development in the child population.

Keywords : Malnutrition; Infant; Development; Short stature; Language.

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