Development and growth in rural Vietnamese children: Using the WHO motor milestone windows of achievement and child growth standards

Early childhood malnutrition has been associated with delayed development and subsequent long term consequences. Limited data however exist for the timing of development delay early in life. Data on attainment of motor milestones (MM) and size were obtained as part of a baseline evaluation of 234 children (5–24 mo) in Project ViSION in Viet Nam. MM data were based on observation of 23 graded measurements that were regrouped into the six WHO MMs. Prevalence of malnutrition was based on anthropometric measurements (weight and length) using World Health Organization's (WHO) growth standards and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth reference. The median age of MM achievement was 2.4–3.2 mo later than the WHO reported medians. Multivariate logistic regression showed that child age and length‐for‐age (LAZ) score increased the odds of MM achievement. Prevalence of moderate stunting (<−2 Z score ≥−3) was higher using the WHO standards compared to NCHS reference; the opposite was true for moderate underweight and mild wasting, (p<0.05). We found evidence of delayed achievement of MMs in Vietnamese children which was significantly associated with stunting. These findings point to the need for preventing chronic malnutrition to promote optimal child growth and development. Grant Funding Source : No financial support