title: Growth recovery and faltering through early adolescence in low- and middle-income countries: Determinants and implications for cognitive development.
abstract: Child chronic undernutrition, as measured by stunting, is prevalent in low- and middle-income countries and is among the major threats to child development. While stunting and its implications for cognitive development have been considered irreversible beyond early childhood there is a lack of consensus in the literature on this, as there is some evidence of recovery from stunting and that this recovery may be associated with improvements in cognition. Less is known however, about the drivers of growth recovery and the aspects of recovery linked to cognitive development. In this paper we investigate the factors associated with growth recovery and faltering through age 12 years and the implications of the incidence, timing, and persistence of post-infancy recovery from stunting for cognitive development using longitudinal data from Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. We find that the factors most systematically associated with accelerated growth both before and after early childhood and across countries include mother's height, household living standards and shocks, community wages, food prices, and garbage collection. Our results suggest that post-infancy recovery from stunting is more likely to be systematically associated with higher achievement scores across countries when it is persistent and that associations between growth trajectories and cognitive achievement in middle childhood do not persist through early adolescence across countries. Overall, our findings indicate that growth after early childhood is responsive to changes in the household and community environments and that growth promotion after early childhood may yield improvements in child cognitive development.
authors.affiliation: Brunel Business School, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, London, UB8 3PH, UK; Department of International Development, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Electronic address: andreas.georgiadis@brunel.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Georgiadis
authors.affiliation: Young Lives Study, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Liza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Benny
authors.affiliation: Centre for Analysis and Forecasting, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Hanoi, Viet Nam.
authors.forename: Le Thuc
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Duc
authors.affiliation: Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Sheikh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galab
authors.affiliation: Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Prudhvikar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Tassew
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Woldehanna
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001077:Aptitude Tests; D001722:Birth Order; D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004777:Environment; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007223:Infant; D012499:Sanitation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Child undernutrition; Cognitive development; Growth trajectories; Post-infancy growth recovery and faltering