The decline of child stunting in 122 countries: a systematic review of child growth studies since the 19th century.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Child stunting, a measure of malnutrition, is a major global health challenge affecting 148.1 million children in 2022. Global stunting rates have declined from 47.2% in 1985 to 22.3% in 2022; however, trends before the mid-1980s are unclear, including whether child stunting was previously prevalent in current high-income countries (HICs). We conducted a systematic review of child growth studies before 1990 to reconstruct historical rates of child stunting.

Methods

We included reports of mean height by age and sex for children up to age 10.99 years. We excluded studies that were not representative of the targeted population and data for children under age 2. Stunting rates were computed by converting the means and SDs of height to height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) u

SUBMITTER: Schneider EB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12918666 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature