PLOS Global Public Health · 1 author, 3 centres
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In a cross-sectional study of 264 mother-child pairs in a Bangladeshi urban slum, maternal common mental disorder (CMD) was significantly associated with child wasting (aOR = 2.25) after adjusting for confounders, though associations with underweight and stunting were not statistically significant in multivariable analysis.
This cross-sectional study assessed 264 mother-child pairs in an urban slum in Bangladesh to examine the association between maternal common mental disorder (CMD), measured by the SRQ-20 (score ≥7 as cutoff), and child nutritional status based on anthropometric measurements. The prevalence of maternal CMD was 46.2%. Prevalences of stunting, wasting, and underweight in children were 44.3%, 18.2%, and 33.7%, respectively. In bivariate analysis, maternal CMD was associated with poorer child feeding, hygiene, and preventive care practices, and with diarrheal disease. In multivariable analysis, maternal CMD was significantly associated with child wasting (aOR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.15–4.43). The association with underweight was attenuated and non-significant (aOR = 1.77, 95% CI = 0.94–3.33), and no significant association with stunting was found (aOR = 1.46, 95% CI = 0.84–2.54). Limitations include the cross-sectional design precluding causal inference, use of a screening rather than diagnostic tool for CMD, potential recall bias, single urban study site limiting generalizability, and data collected in 2013.
