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Journal Article Epublish 1 citation

PubMed: 38951653 DOI: 10.1038/s43856-024-00543-6

Analysis of anthropometric outcomes in Indian children during the COVID-19 pandemic using National Family Health Survey data.

Commun Med (Lond) 4(1):127

Authors: Amit Summan, Arindam Nandi, Ramanan Laxminarayan

Affiliations

  • One Health Trust, 5636 Connecticut Avenue NW, PO Box 42735, Washington, DC, 20015, USA.
  • One Health Trust, 5636 Connecticut Avenue NW, PO Box 42735, Washington, DC, 20015, USA.
  • The Population Council, 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY, 10017, USA.
  • One Health Trust, Obeya Pulse, First Floor, 7/1, Halasur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560042, India.
  • High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Disruptions in food, health, and economic systems during the COVID-19 pandemic may have adversely affected child health. There is currently limited research on the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on stunting, wasting, and underweight status of young children.

METHODS

We examine the short-term associations between the pandemic and anthropometric outcomes of under-5 children (n = 232,920) in India, using data from the National Family Health Survey (2019-2021). Children surveyed after March 2020 are considered as the post-COVID group, while those surveyed earlier are considered as pre-COVID. Potential biases arising from differences in socioeconomic characteristics of the two groups are mitigated using propensity score matching methods.

RESULTS

Post-COVID children surveyed in 2020 and 2021 have 1.2% higher underweight rates, 1.2% lower wasting rates, 0.1 lower height-for-age z-scores (HAZ), and 0.04 lower weight-for-height z-scores as compared with matched pre-COVID children. Post-COVID children surveyed in 2020 have 1.6%, 4.6%, and 2.4% higher stunting, underweight, and wasting rates, respectively, and 0.07 lower HAZ, as compared with matched pre-COVID children. Reductions in nutritional status are largest among children from households in the poorest wealth quintiles.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate a trend towards a recovery in child anthropometric outcomes in 2021 after the initial post-pandemic reductions. The resilience of health and food systems to shocks such as COVID-19 should be strengthened while immediate investments are required to decrease child malnutrition and improve broader child health outcomes.

MeSH

Food, Covid-19, Child Health, Pandemics, Health Surveys, Growth Disorders, Child

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