Anthropometric measures and cognitive performance of mother‐child pairs from Sidama, Southern Ethiopia

Cognitive performance of 100 mothers and their 5 year old children was assessed using Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) and tests from the Kaufman ABC‐II. Anthropometric measurements revealed that maternal BMI ranged from 15.3 to 29.0 with 14% having BMI <18.5. Stunting in children was 29% and 12% were underweight. If mothers had ≥ 5y of education, both mothers and children had significantly higher test results. Scores for mothers and children correlated for both short term memory (r=0.21, p= 0.03) and visual processing indices (r=0.29, p=0.004). Stunted and underweight children had lower short term memory scores than non‐stunted (p=0.0005) and underweight children (p=0.009). Visual processing scores were also lower in stunted (p=0.0001) and under‐weight (p=0.001) children. Child height, weight and age and maternal age and education predicted child visual processing index (R 2 = 0.38, p<0.0001). Child height and age, family size and roof type predicted child short term memory index (R 2 =0.31, p <0.0001). Malnutrition in the community appeared to contribute to low cognitive performance of the subjects. Sustainable methods to alleviate malnutrition are urgently needed. [Supported by NIH R01HD053053 (NICHD & Fogarty International Ctr), Hawassa University, and Oklahoma State University]