The impact of socioeconomic status on growth during infancy versus puberty in a developing country

Objective:To explore the relationship between socioeconomic status from one side and physi-cal growth and nutritional status from the other side, in infants versus adolescents in Egyptians. Methods: Three samples were investigated:a) A sample of 605 infants aged 6 months+1 week (287 girls and 318 boys). B) A sample of 992 infants of age 4-24 months (465 girls and 527 boys). C) A sample of 1864 chil-dren and adolescents aged 6-14 years of (744 girls and 1120 boys). All samples are from Big Cairo area of both urban and rural localities and of various socioeconomic strata. Body weight and length/height had been measured and body mass index (BMI) had been calculated for every subject. Assessment of the impact of pa-rental education level, locality and number of sibs, on growth and nutrition as indicated by BMI was attemp-ted. Results: a) Breastfed infants (6 months +1 week) grow bigger in low socioeconomic strata and in rural areas than artificially fed infants. The practice of breast feeding was more common and lasted longer in low so-cioeconomic stratum than in middle and high one. B) A significant positive association between body mass in-dex of infants (4-24 months) and the socioeconomic status (particularly level of father education reflecting family income) was proved. C) The socioeconomic factors had insignificant influence on BMI of school chil-dren aged 6～9 years, but it showed significant influence in the period 10～14 years. After the age of 9 years, children started the pubertal stage earlier and had higher BMI in the high socioeconomic strata as com-pared to those of low socioeconomic strata. D) In the low socioeconomic status, breast feeding compensates the deleterious influences of the environment on growth and physique of infants. Conclusion: children of educated parents have significantly low number of siblings'size in comparison to those of uneducated parents. Also chil-dren of educated parents are significantly more in number in urban areas than in rural areas, and vice versa. The interdependence between parental education and locality shows the highest level of significance in both se-xes and at all ages.