RESEARCH REPORTS

Duration of lack of money for basic needs and growth delay in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development birth cohort

N Z Ehounoux^1,2, M-V Zunzunegui^1,2,3, L Séguin^1,2,3, B Nikiema^1,2,3 and L Gauvin^1,2,3

¹ Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montreal, Canada
² Interdisciplinary Research Group on Health (IRGH), Université de Montréal, Canada
³ Lea-Roback Research Centre on Social Inequalities in Health, Canada

Correspondence to:
Dr L Séguin, Département de Médecine Sociale et Préventive, Université de Montréal, C.P.6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3J7; Louise.Seguin{at}umontreal.ca

Objective: To examine the relationship between duration of lack of money for basic needs and growth delay in a birth cohort.

Methodology: Mothers of children (n = 1929) from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) participating when the children were ages 2 and 4 years were interviewed at home and data were extracted from birth records. Children’s height at 4 years old was transformed into an age- and sex-adjusted z-score. A z-score under the 10th percentile of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention population growth curve was equated with growth delay. Lack of money for basic needs (paying for rent, electricity and/or heating, clothing, medications or other needs) when the children were ages 2 and 4 years was reported by the mother.

Results: Only 2.5% of children experienced two episodes of lack of money for basic needs. Logistic regression analyses showed that, after adjusting for confounding variables, the probability of growth delay at 4 years among children whose families experienced two episodes of lack of money was higher than for their peers who had not lacked money (OR 3.43; 95% CI 1.54 to 7.66). Experiencing lack of money only at 2 years showed higher but not significant odds of growth delay at 4 years (OR 1.51; 95% CI 0.84 to 2.72), whereas the likelihood of growth delay was similar for children who experienced lack of money only at 4 years and for their counterparts who never lacked money (OR 0.74; 95% CI 0.26 to 2.11).

Conclusion: In an industrialised country toddlers whose families experienced persistent lack of money for basic needs are more likely to have growth delay even after controlling for neonatal conditions and their mothers’ characteristics.

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