Maternal and fetal characteristics of stunted newborns and geographical altitude in the province of Jujuy

MARTINEZ JORGE IVAN; ALFARO-GOMEZ, EMMA LAURA; DIPIERRI JOSE EDGARDO

Denver

Encuentro; Program of the 47th Annual Meeting of the Human Biology Association; 2022

Human Biology Association

The consequences of stunting in the newborn (RN) include increased risk of morbidity and mortality, deficiencies in child development and learning capacity, increased risk of infections, among others. This paper describes the maternal and fetal characteristics of shortened RNs from different altitudinal floors of the province of Jujuy. The data belong to Sistema Informatico Perinatal (2009-2014). We categorized as stunted those RNs whose length for gestational age was less than the P3 of the INTERGROWTH-21st standard. The prevalence of stunted RNs was analyzed according to birth size, gestation time, maternal height, preconception maternal nutritional status and altitude of the maternal place of residence during gestation (Puna [3000-4000msnm],Quebrada [2000-3000msnm], Valles [1000-2000msnm] and Ramal [500-1000msnm]). The region with the highest prevalence of shortened RNs was Quebrada (13.4%), followed by Ramal (6.2%), Puna (3.9%) and Valles (1.5%). More than 40% of the shortened RNs of Quebrada and Ramal were also small for gestational age. We observed a higher regional prevalence of stunting inpreterm RNs except in Quebrada, which presented a higher proportion of stunted to term. In all regions, as maternal height increased, the rate of stunting decreased. The prevalence of stunting was similar in all categories of preconception nutritional status. Risk factors for shortfor-gestational-age morbidity and mortality will coexist with the stunted phenotype regardless of geographic height.