RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH MALNUTRITION IN CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS OF AGE

Abstract

Introduction: Malnutrition is a health problem that fundamentally affects the well-being of children; in the Latin American region, there is a great repercussion of the disease in the population under 5 years of age. Objective: To analyze, based on scientific evidence, the risk factors associated with malnutrition in children under 5 years of age. Methods: The methodological framework was guided by the guidelines of the Joanna Briggs Institute and adapted to PRISMA ScR; the search for information was performed in the databases: Pubmed, Scopus and LILACS, in the repository: SciELO and in academic google; the selection of evidence was performed using Rayyan software; the extracted information was analyzed using a basic quantitative and qualitative approach. Results: 807 studies were identified, of which 29 were included in this review; most of them date from the years 2005, 2012 and 2020, the main country of origin was Brazil (34.48%), 89.66% belong to original articles, the main source of evidence was Scopus (79%) and mostly belonged to cross-sectional studies (52%). Conclusions: The most relevant findings in relation to the risk factors associated with child malnutrition were: low socioeconomic level, mother under 20 years of age, mother self-identified as indigenous, low level of maternal education, households with more children per mother, having an incomplete vaccination schedule and history of illness, duration of breastfeeding, male gender, low birth weight and living in rural areas.