Socioeconomic factors associated with severe acute malnutrition in Jamaica

Debbie S Thompson, Novie Younger-Coleman, Parris Lyew-Ayee, Lisa-Gaye Greene, Michael S Boyne and Terrence E Forrester

PLOS ONE, 2017, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Objectives: Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is an important risk factor for illness and death globally, contributing to more than half of deaths in children worldwide. We hypothesized that SAM is positively correlated to poverty, low educational attainment, major crime and higher mean soil concentrations of lead, cadmium and arsenic. Methods: We reviewed admission records of infants admitted with a diagnosis of SAM over 14 years (2000–2013) in Jamaica. Poverty index, educational attainment, major crime and environmental heavy metal exposure were represented in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Cases of SAM were grouped by community and the number of cases per community/year correlated to socioeconomic variables and geochemistry data for the relevant year. Results: 375 cases of SAM were mapped across 204 urban and rural communities in Jamaica. The mean age at admission was 9 months (range 1–45 months) and 57% were male. SAM had a positive correlation with major crime (r = 0.53; P

Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0173101

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173101

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