A cross-sectional study of prevalence and risk factors for stunting among under-fives attending acute malnutrition treatment programmes in north-western Nigeria: Should these programmes be adapted to also manage stunting?

BACKGROUND: Stunting and severe wasting can co-occur in under-fives, predisposing them to increased risks for morbidity and mortality. The Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) programme, which provides outpatient malnutrition care for severely wasted children, has been successful at managing severe wasting, but there are limited data on stunting among entrants into these programmes. METHODS: We performed secondary analysis of data collected from attendees of two CMAM centres in north-western Nigeria. Using WHO reference standards, we determined the prevalence of concurrent stunting (height/length-for-age <-2 SD) among severely wasted children (weight-for-height z-scores <-3 SD). We identified individual and household-level risk factors for concurrent stunting using multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Our cohort comprised 472 severely wasted children and the majority (82.8%) were stunted. Age groups of 12–23 mo (adjusted OR [AOR]=2.38, 95% CI 1.26 to 4.48) and 24–35 mo (AOR=7.81, 95% CI 1.99 to 30.67), male gender (AOR=2.51, 95% CI 1.43 to 4.39) and attending the rural malnutrition clinic (AOR=3.08, 95% CI 1.64 to 5.79) were associated with a significantly increased probability of stunting. CONCLUSIONS: Stunting prevalence is high among severely wasted children attending CMAM programmes in north-western Nigeria. Policymakers need to adapt these treatment programmes to also cater for stunting, taking into account practical programmatic realities such as available expertise and scarce resource allocation.