Climate change has been linked to poor childhood growth and development through maternal stress, nutritional insults related to lean harvests, and exposure to infectious diseases. Vulnerable populations are often most susceptible to these stressors. This study tested whether susceptibility to linear growth faltering is higher among Peruvian children from indigenous, rural, low-education, and low-income households. High-resolution weather and household survey data from Demographic and Health Survey 1996–2012 were used to explore height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) at each year of life from 0 to 5. Rural, indigenous children at age 0–1 experience a HAZ reduction of 0.35 units associated with prenatal excess rainfall which is also observed at age 4–5. Urban, non-indigenous children at age 4–5 experience a HAZ increase of 0.07 units associated with postnatal excess rainfall, but this advantage is not seen among rural, indigenous children. These findings highlight the need to consider developmental stage and social predictors as key components in public health interventions targeting increased climate change resilience.

气候变化通过孕产妇压力、与贫瘠收成相关的营养损害以及接触传染病而与儿童生长发育不良有关。弱势群体往往最容易受到这些压力源的影响。这项研究测试了来自土著、农村、低教育和低收入家庭的秘鲁儿童对线性生长迟缓的敏感性是否更高。使用 1996-2012 年人口与健康调查的高分辨率天气和家庭调查数据来探索0 至 5 岁每一年的年龄别身高z分数 (HAZ)。 0-1 岁的农村土著儿童与产前过量降雨相关的 HAZ 减少了 0.35 个单位，这在 4-5 岁时也观察到。4-5 岁的城市非土著儿童的 HAZ 因出生后过量降雨而增加了 0.07 个单位，但这种优势在农村土著儿童中并未体现出来。这些发现强调需要将发展阶段和社会预测因素视为旨在提高气候变化抵御能力的公共卫生干预措施的关键组成部分。