Abstract

AVILA CURIEL, Abelardo César; ALVAREZ IZAZAGA, Marsela Alejandra  and  GALINDO-GOMEZ, Carlos. Delayed Neurodevelopment, Malnutrition and Timely Stimulation in Rural Mexican Children. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2018, vol.8, n.3, pp.6-16. ISSN 2007-4719.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fpsi.20074719e.2018.3.01.

Worldwide, 162 million children did not reach full development of their capacities (United Nations Organization [UN], 2014). The aim of our study was to estimate the prevalence of delayed neurodevelopment and timely stimulation of children living in marginalized communities of various rural entities in Mexico, and quantify their association with nutritional status and other sociodemographic variables. We conducted an observational, cross-sectional, descriptive and association study. The sample was of 37,495 children between 11 and 13 months of age, coming from 1,830 rural localities of 750 municipalities of the 32 entities of the Mexican Republic. The slight delay of neurodevelopment occurred in 32.1%, the moderate delay in 21.9% and the severe delay in 17.2%. The serious delay occurred to a greater extent in the state of Guerrero, Chiapas and Puebla. The Favorable stimulation condition was presented in 52.5%. The association between timely stimulation, nutritional status and neurodevelopment is evident and statistically significant (p <0.0001). Insufficient stimulation was the characteristic of greater association to suffer from delay in moderate and severe neurodevelopment with an odds ratio of 3,440 (p <0.001). These data are relevant since there is no information up to the moment that this quantified association indicates.

Keywords : Neurodevelopment; Stimulation; Malnutrition; Prevalence; Mexico.