The intergenerational continuity of undernutrition is influenced by shared genetic, household socio-economic and cultural resources which will be associated with the mother and the child nutritional status, possibly to the same degree. Provided that this assumption is valid, maternal height and BMI could be a simple way of measuring nutritional status of their children. Data were obtained from the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS 2011). An analytical sample of 8, 505 children whose mothers are not pregnant and live with their biological mothers was included. The bivariate associations between nutritional indices of the mother and the children were analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficients. The sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and area under Roc curves were calculated. Logistics regression for binary outcomes was also used to evaluate the predictors of child undernutrition. Children who experienced stunting, underweight or wasting had mothers with lower mean BMI than those who did not (p < 0.001). Maternal and child nutritional status were positively correlated. The sensitivity of maternal underweight (defined by BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) as a predictor of child’s nutritional status (<− 2 z-scores) is low, failing to reach 50% for any of the child nutrition indices. In logistics regression, maternal BMI was associated with stunting, underweight and wasting (p < 0.001) while maternal height was only associated with stunting and underweight (p < 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of maternal anthropometric indicators to identify growth deficits among children were too low to justify using maternal indicators as a replacement for child growth measurements.

中文翻译：

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孕产妇营养不良作为其后代营养不良的替代指标：来自 2011 年埃塞俄比亚人口与健康调查的证据

营养不良的代际连续性受到共同的遗传、家庭社会经济和文化资源的影响，这些资源可能与母亲和儿童的营养状况相关，程度可能相同。如果这一假设成立，母亲的身高和 BMI 可能是衡量孩子营养状况的一种简单方法。数据来自 2011 年埃塞俄比亚人口与健康调查 (EDHS 2011)。包括 8, 505 名母亲未怀孕并与生母同住的儿童的分析样本。用 Pearson 相关系数分析母亲和孩子的营养指数之间的双变量关联。计算灵敏度、特异性、预测值和Roc曲线下面积。二元结果的逻辑回归也用于评估儿童营养不良的预测因素。经历发育迟缓、体重过轻或消瘦的儿童的母亲平均 BMI 低于没有经历的儿童（p < 0.001）。母婴营养状况呈正相关。母亲体重过轻（定义为 BMI < 18.5 kg/m2）作为儿童营养状况预测指标（<- 2 z 分数）的敏感性很低，任何儿童营养指数均未达到 50%。在逻辑回归中，产妇 BMI 与发育迟缓、体重过轻和消瘦相关（p < 0.001），而产妇身高仅与发育迟缓和体重过轻相关（p < 0.001）。