Acute Undernutrition and Child Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Meta-analysis

CONTEXT: The association between linear growth faltering and child development outcomes is generally well recognized; however, the relationship between metrics of acute undernutrition and development has received less attention. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to quantify the association between metrics of acute undernutrition in childhood with development outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature review of observational studies that assessed the association between metrics of acute undernutrition, including body mass index-for-age z score (BMIZ), midupper arm circumference (MUAC), weight-for-height/-length z score (WHZ/WLZ), wasting (WHZ/WLZ < -2), and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among children under 5 years of age with cognitive, motor, language, and socioemotional development assessed to 19 years of age. We estimated the pooled correlation…