Early childhood linear growth faltering in low-income and middle-income countries as a whole-population condition: analysis of 179 Demographic and Health Surveys from 64 countries (1993–2015)

The causes of early childhood linear growth faltering (known as stunting) in low-income and middle-income countries remain inadequately understood. We aimed to determine if the progressive postnatal decline in mean height-for-age Z score (HAZ) in low-income and middle-income countries is driven by relatively slow growth of certain high-risk children versus faltering of the entire population.Distributions of HAZ (based on WHO growth standards)...