Socioeconomic impacts on Andean adolescents’ growth: variation between households, between communities, and over time

Background/Objectives We evaluated potential socioeconomic contributors to variation in Andean adolescents’ growth between households within a peri-urban community undergoing rapid demographic and economic change, between different community types (rural, peri-urban, urban), and over time. Because growth monitoring is widely used for assessing community needs and progress, we compared the prevalences of stunting, underweight, and overweight estimated by three different growth references. Results Alteños’ height averaged ∼0.8SD/∼0.6SD/∼2SDs greater than adolescents’ height in urban and rural communities measured in 1983/1998/1977, respectively. Overweight prevalence was comparable to the WHO, and lower than MESA and Puno, references. Stunting was 8.5/2.5/0.5 times WHO/MESA/Puno samples, respectively. Female Alteños’ growth was positively associated with household and maternal income indices. Conclusions/Implications Both peri-urban conditions and temporal trends contributed to gains in A...