Body mass index of mothers presenting to Shabelle Health and Nutrition Center by child nutrition and maternal gestational status—November 2019 to March 2020 (n=2119)†
| Nutritional status of the child aged 6–59 months | |||
| Wasted‡ | Non-wasted‡ | All children | |
| n | 1225 | 894 | 2119 |
| Mother status§¶ | |||
| Pregnant, n | 337 | 273 | 610 |
| Mean BMI (SD) | 24.84 (5.2) | 25.45 (4.98) | 25.11 (5.11) |
| Lactating, n | 65 | 76 | 141 |
| Mean BMI (SD) | 24.51 (5.85) | 25.07 (6.13) | 24.82 (5.99) |
| Neither pregnant nor lactating, n | 823 | 545 | 1368 |
| BMI <16 kg/m2, n (%) | 9 (1.1) | 5 (0.9) | 14 (1.0) |
| 16≥BMI≤18.4 kg/m2, n (%) | 65 (7.9) | 31 (5.7) | 96 (7.0) |
| 18.5≥BMI<25 kg/m2, n (%) | 418 (50.8) | 276 (50.6) | 694 (50.7) |
| BMI ≥25 kg/m2, n (%) | 331 (40.2) | 233 (42.8) | 564 (41.2) |
| Mean BMI (SD) | 24.43 (5.26)* | 25.06 (5.47)* | 24.68 (5.35) |
*p<0.05; indicated as significant.
†Significant p values were calculated comparing mothers with wasted children to mothers with non-wasted children.
‡Wasted is defined as children aged 6–59 months with WHZ <−2 and/or MUAC <12.5 cm and/or bilateral oedema. All other children were defined as non-wasted.
§Mother status was defined to be mutually exclusive. Pregnant mothers included women who self-identified as pregnant. Lactating mothers included non-pregnant mothers breast feeding a child between the ages of 0 and 5 months; the breastfed child was not necessarily the child enrolled in the study. Neither pregnant nor lactating mothers were defined as women who were neither pregnant nor lactating a child under 6 months of age.
¶Mothers missing information on weight and height (n=18) or BMI values out of range (n=5) were excluded from this analysis (total excluded, n=23).
BMI, body mass index; MUAC, mid-upper arm circumference; WHZ, weight-for-height z-score.