The Consecutive 3-month Length Increment to Predict Early Linear Growth Failure

AIM: This study aimed to assess the consecutive 3-month length increment thresholds, by the first 6 months, to predict stunted at the age of 6 months. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Bogor Longitudinal Study on Child Growth and Development in West Java, Indonesia. A total of 635 free of stunting at birth children were analyzed in this study. Early linear growth faltering, as the dependent variable, was the stunted at 6 months of age. The four thresholds of the consecutive 3-month length increment were considered in predicting stunted at the age of 6 months. The thresholds were a consecutive 3-month length increment below 25th percentile, 15th percentile, and 5th percentile of the WHO Child Growth Velocity Standard. The 4th threshold was generated from the Bogor Longitudinal Study sample and determined using receiver operating characteristic analysis. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of the thresholds were calculated. RESULTS: Among the thresholds, the 25th percentile of the WHO Child Growth Velocity Standard generates the highest sensitivity. The ability of the 25th percentile threshold to correctly identify children who had stunting at 6 months of age is 56.7%. However, the children whose experience a consecutive 3-month length increment below 15th percentile had highest risk to become stunted at the age of 6 months, adjusted by sex, birthweight, and birth length. CONCLUSION: A consecutive 3-month length increment could be beneficial as a tool in identifying infants at high risk of early linear growth failure in stunted prevalent population.