CONDIÇÕES SOCIOECONÔMICAS E OUTROS DETERMINANTES DA ALTURA EM CRIANÇAS NO SUL DO BRASIL: UMA ANÁLISE MULTINÍVEL

Abstract

A cross-sectional household population based study of height among 12-59 months children (n = 2632) was conducted in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Multilevel linear regression was applied to investigate the effect of socio-economic and demographic conditions, physical and social environment, and health conditions on children s height, measured by the height for age z-scores from the median of the American standard NCHS. On average, children s height was - 0.18 z score. Children s height increased with the levels of maternal and paternal education, work qualification of the parents, family income per capita, better housing conditions, maternal age, birth intervals and birth weight. Average height decreased with the number of under-fives in household, hospitalization in the first two years of life and preterm birth. The positive effect of maternal education were twice in the areas of the city which were relatively more deprived in housing quality in terms of building material, quality of construction, water and electricity and sanitation infrastructure. The positive effect of work qualification of the parents was evident in the more deprived areas, but not in the better provided areas. The results suggest that the area of residence modifies the effects of socioeconomic conditions on children s growth. Social policies and programmes that increase education and economic conditions of the families are needed. Housing and sanitation programmes are potentially beneficial to decrease the negative effect of social disadvantage on child growth