Association between maternal anemia and stunting in infants and children aged 0-60 months: A systematic literature review.

OBJECTIVES: Maternal anemia is a worldwide health issue and a common pregnancy complication. It leads to consequences including infant mortality, low birth weight, preterm birth, unrecoverable or partially reversible neurobehavioral and cognitive deficits, and short birth length. However, the relationship between maternal anemia and stunting in children is not well defined. This systematic literature review sought to determine whether maternal anemia was associated with height or length and stunting conditions in infants and children ages 0-60 mo in cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies carried out in several countries. METHODS: A systematic review was performed on articles published from 2014-2021 related to maternal anemia and stunting. The electronic databases used were ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, Google Search, and AJOG (American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology). The literature search was performed up to December 7, 2021. RESULTS: Twelve studies were included. Nine studies examined the correlation between maternal anemia and length or weight in children. Seven of the nine studies showed an association between maternal anemia and stunting in children; the others showed an association between maternal anemia and birth length. Three studies found no association between maternal anemia and stunting in children under age 5 y. CONCLUSIONS: The current review emphasizes that stunting in children may be associated with maternal anemia, specifically in developing countries. This implies that it is crucial to prevent anemia in adolescent girls and women before and during pregnancy as a part of programs to eliminate stunting in children.

Use of mobile app to monitoring growth outcome of children: A systematic literature review.

Advances in knowledge and technology have created opportunities to help monitor child growth. Thus, we conducted a systematic review to determine if the use of mobile apps resulted in improved growth outcomes for children. We include articles published related to children's growth with poor nutritional status. The relevant articles were searched from PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. Twelve studies were identified, which is the use of the mobile app to monitor growth in undernutrition and obesity in children. Six studies found that the use of mobile apps improved undernutrition child growth and improved parents' and/or front health workers' knowledge to prevent, treat, and monitor children with undernutrition. Six studies stated that the use of mobile app helps overweight/obese children lose weight and motivate them to achieve ideal body weight. Mobile apps for monitoring the growth of children with various standards are likely a promising means for early detection of growth failure and guiding overweight/obese children in gaining normal weight. Studies with large sample sizes and long-term interventions and follow-ups are needed to help assess the effectiveness of mobile app intervention programs and their impact on multiple growth outcomes more comprehensively and accurately.