Is Child Undernutrition Associated with Antenatal Care Attendance in Madhya Pradesh, India?

Context: There is a paucity of research investigating the association between antenatal care (ANC) attendance and child undernutrition in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Aim: To determine whether body weight status in children under the age of 5 years is associated with ANC attendance in Madhya Pradesh.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out using data from India's National Family Health Survey (2005-2006). Bodyweight status (an indicator of undernutrition) was determined using weight-for-age. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to estimate prevalence and obtain adjusted odds ratios (AOR) to investigate associations between ANC indicators and weight-for-age.

Results: Majority of children were underweight (55.1%). ANC attendance was inadequate, with only 36.8% of women having four or more visits. None of the ANC indicators were associated with body weight status. Increased child age especially an age of 2 years (AOR 2.29; 1.66-3.15), belonging to a scheduled tribe [ST] (AOR 2.36; CI 1.64-3.39), scheduled caste [SC] (AOR 1.75; CI 1.25-2.45) or other backward caste [OBC] (AOR 1.43; CI 1.08-1.89) were associated with being underweight; a birth weight of ≥2.5 kg was associated with lower relative odds of being underweight (AOR 0.43; CI 0.29-0.64). Mothers who had a normal BMI (AOR 0.66; CI 0.53-0.82) or were overweight (AOR 0.42; CI 0.25-0.69) were less likely to have underweight children.

Conclusions: ANC attendance was not associated with body weight status. Increased child age, low birth weight, poor maternal nutrition status and belonging to SCs, STs or OBCs increased the odds of child undernutrition.