Effect of parental formal education on risk of child stunting in Indonesia and Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

Background Child stunting is associated with poor child development and increased mortality. Our aim was to determine the effect of length of maternal and paternal education on stunting in children under the age of 5 years. Methods Data for indicators of child growth and of parental education and socioeconomic status were gathered from 590,570 families in Indonesia and 395,122 families in Bangladesh as part of major nutritional surveillance programmes. Findings The prevalence of stunting in families in Indonesia was 33.2%, while that in Bangladesh was 50.7%. In Indonesia, greater maternal formal education led to a decrease of between 4.4% and 5% in the odds of child stunting (odds ratio per year 0.950, 95% CI 0.946-0.954 in rural settings; 0.956, 0.950-0.961…