Association of psychological and behavioral development with stunting of Tibetan children aged 0-5 years in Tibet / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand the current situation of psychological and behavioral development of Tibetan children aged 0-5 years in Tibet, and to provide basic data for analyzing the relationship between stunning and children s psychological and behavioral development.@*Methods@#A total of 2 788 Tibetan children aged 0-71 months were randomly selected from seven districts and counties in Tibet from September to November 2020 by stratified PPS method and cluster sampling method for questionnaire survey and physical examination. Multivariate Logistic model was used to analyze the effect of stunting on psychological and behavioral development.@*Results@#The detection rate of psychological and behavioral development deviation of Tibetan children aged 0-5 years in Tibet was 24.68%, among which the detection rates of development deviation in language, gross motor skill, fine motor skill, and social emotional were 8.07%, 9.15%, 12.02% and 12.73%, respectively. After adjusting for potential mixed factors, the OR value (95% CI ) of the risk of psychological and behavioral development deviation of stunted children was 1.34(1.05-1.70). There was positive association with the three dimensions of language, fine motor skill, and social [ OR value (95% CI ) was 1.44(1.01-2.05 ), 1.50(1.06-2.12) and 1.54(1.14-2.07)], respectively. Subgroup analysis showed significant differences in age (0-35 months old OR =1.16, 95% CI =0.88-1.53; 36-71 months old OR =2.28, 95% CI =1.44-3.62) and gender (boys OR =1.69, 95% CI =1.23-2.32; girls OR =0.98, 95% CI =0.67-1.42) in the association between stunting and psychological and behavioral development.@*Conclusion@#The detection rate of psychological and behavioral development deviation of 0-5 year old Tibetan children is high. Stunting is associated with the risk of psychological and behavioral development. Early screening and comprehensive intervention of children s nutritional and neurodevelopmental should be carried out, especially among older age boys.