Stunting and anemia are associated with cognitive abilities in primary school children

Nur Arafah; Munar Lubis; Isti Ilmiati Fujiati

Volume : VIII, Issue : X, October - 2019

Stunting and anemia are associated with cognitive abilities in primary school children

Nur Arafah, Munar Lubis, Isti Ilmiati Fujiati

Abstract :

Background Stunting and anemia in children are still a serious problem in Indonesia. Stunting was related to cognitive function in children.In addition ,anemia is also associated with that function. Objective To analize the relationship between stunting and anemia with cognitive ability in primary school children in Sikapas village, Sumatera Utara. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed in Sikapas Village, Sumatera Utara, from March 2016 until April 2016. The population in this study was primary school children in SD Negeri 384, Sikapas vilage. Stunting was assessed by CDC curve with the percentile height of body per age below the 3rd percentile. Anemia as if Hb less than 12 mg/dl.Cognitive ability was examined by psychologist using Weschler IV subtest. Processing and data analysis was conducted using SPSS 18.0 for windows with a significance level of p <0.05. Results Fifty four percents of student following the study suffered stunting, most students did not suffer anemia (55.2%) and 49.4% have impaired cognitive ability. Bivariat analysis showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between stunting and cognitive ability in children (p value = 0,023 and OR = 2,992), while there was no statistically significant relationship between anemia and cognitive ability in children (p value = 0,598 and OR=1,379). Conclusion It can be concluded that there was relationship between stunting with impaired cognitive ability.