A quantitative study into the role of infection in determining nutritional status in Gambian village children
- 1 May 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in British Journal of Nutrition
- Vol. 37 (3), 441-450
- https://doi.org/10.1079/bjn19770047
Abstract
1. Growth in weight and height in 152 children between the ages of 0.6 and 3 years was investigated in Keneba, a rural Gambian village. By 1 year of age the average weight-for-age of the children was only 75% of the Jelliffe (1966) standard. 2. The relationship between the prevalence of nine different categories of diseases and growth was investigated to determine the quantitative contribution of the diseases to the growth faltering observed. There was a highly significant negative relationship between gastroenteritis and both weight gain and height gain. The only other disease category having a similar relationship was malaria, but in this instance only with weight gain. 3. Although over-all growth in weight and height was considerably below the standard values, multiple regression analysis indicated that after the age of 1 year, except in July and August, normal and sometimes slow ‘catch-up’ growth would be possible in the absence of gastroenteritis. 4. Attention is drawn to the limitations of the use of anthropometry in a settled village community as the only criterion by which dietary adequacy can be judged.This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- The effect of cortisone acetate on the course of development of experimental protein-energy malnutrition in ratsBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1976
- NOTE ON THE ASSESSMENT AND CLASSIFICATION OF PROTEIN-ENERGY MALNUTRITION IN CHILDRENThe Lancet, 1973
- Classification and definition of protein-calorie malnutrition.BMJ, 1972
- Seasonal variation in infection and malnutrition at a rural paediatric clinic in UgandaTransactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1972
- RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PATTERN OF INFECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOALBUMINÆMIA AND HYPO-β-LIPOPROTEINÆMIA IN RURAL UGANDAN CHILDRENThe Lancet, 1971
- Nutritional Anthropometry in the Identification of Malnutrition in ChildhoodJournal of Tropical Pediatrics, 1971
- The health of young children in West African (Gambian) villageTransactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1970
- Factors influencing the growth and nutritional status of infants and young children in a Nigerian villageTransactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1968
- The growth of young children in a Gambian villageTransactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1968
- Child Mortality in JamaicaThe Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 1967