Relations between socio‐economic status and morbidity, food intake and growth in young children in two villages in Bangladesh

Abstract

The relations between socio‐economic status (SES) and food‐intake, morbidity and anthropometric status of children under five years old were analyzed from longitudinal data collected in two Bangladeshi villages. Illness surveillance every other day and monthly anthropometric measurements were done during one year for 197 children, and weighed food intake studies were done monthly for 65 of these children. Socio‐economic variables included wealth (ownership of land, livestock and dwelling size), income (total income and amounts of foodstocks in two seasons) and education (of the head of household, mother and highest in the household). The types of foods taken by study children were associated most with the education of the household head, while the quantity of specific foods eaten, after controlling for the child's age, was more related to the income of the household. Considering diarrheal illnesses, the duration of diarrhea due to Shigella or rotavirus and the incidence of shigellosis were negatively associated with the income of the household. Upper respiratory disease and febrile illnesses were less frequent in children from wealthy families but stomatitis and skin disease were not. The initial values of the anthropometric indicators varied directly with the wealth of the household but inversely with the number of children in the household under the age of five years. The measures of change in anthropometric status over the year were more closely associated with the income variables.