Malnutrition in preschool children may be associated with poor development. There are three categories of malnutrition, including underweight, stunted, and wasted. There is limited data on risk factors of these three categories. This systematic review aimed to evaluate risk factors of these three categories. We searched on 10 databases to enroll studies conducted in early childhood children aged 0 to 5 years, evaluated risk factors associated with nutritional status, and had the outcomes of nutritional status. The odds ratio and 95% confidence interval of each risk factor for nutritional status were calculated. There were 4324 articles identified by searching from 10 databases; 13 articles were included for the analysis. Eight significant risk factors for underweight were identified, including sex, age, breastfeeding, diarrhea, income, antenatal care, birth size, and toilet facility. Delayed breastfeeding had the highest odds ratio of 6.19 (95% confidence interval: 1.54–24.86). Six factors were significantly associated with stunting, including male sex, caregiver’s education, initiation of breastfeeding at 6 months or later, episodes of diarrhea, toilet facility, and rural residence. The type of toilet facility had the highest odds ratio of 3.25 (95% confidence interval: 1.18–8.92). For wasting, three risk factors were significant: never attended antenatal care, small size at birth, and episodes of diarrhea. In conclusion, risk factors for underweight, stunting, and wasting were identified and varied. These significant risk factors were associated with poor socioeconomic status and may lead to poor development.
Ladla et al. (Sun,) studied this question.