Acharya, 2019 [43] Cross-sectional | India | 1194 | NR | 48.6 | - | Stunting and Height-for-age between 8 and 11 years | Schooling level | Gender, child’s age, child had any chronic illness or congenital or perinatal disorder, mother’s education, father’s education, child lived with both biological parents in household, household income, scheduled caste/tribe, English medium school, worried about not having sufficient food during the past month | Acute nutritional status was associated with lower math scores and lower educational attainment, suggesting that current adverse conditions are also important determinants of cognitive achievement and educational attainment. |
Alderman, 2006 [41] Prospective cohort | Zimbabwe | 665 | 17.7 years | 50.8 | ≈ 14.4 years | Height-for-age at 39.9 months | Age at school entry | Sex, current age, maternal age, maternal education, maternal height, year of first measurement (instrumental variable) exposure to civil a war, drought shock | Improved preschooler nutritional status, as measured by height given age, is associated with increased height as a young adult, a greater number of grades of schooling completed, and an earlier age at which the child starts school |
Alderman, 2009 [7] Prospective cohort | Tanzania | ≈ 1147 | 15.7 years | 49.0 | 10 years | Percentage of median reference height at 10 years or less | Age at school entry | Residuals % median, female, age of child in years, mother’s height, father’s height, parent had secondary schooling, number of teachers per class, number of blackboards per class, urban, maximum education in household, (log) per capita household expenditure, electricity in the household, (instrumental variables) crop loss in 2004, and flood or drought in 2004 | Children who are malnourished have lower schooling and delay their school entry. |
Bogin, 1987 [33] Cross-sectional | Guatemala | 514 | Range: 7-13.99 | NR | - | Height between 7 and 13.99 years | School dropout | Grade, child’s age, weight, arm circumference, triceps skinfold, subscapular skinfold, muscle area, and fat area | School continuation or drop-out was not influenced by the health or nutritional environment. |
Crookston, 2013 [6] Prospective cohort | Ethiopia India Peru Vietnam | 1757 1815 1845 1829 | 8.1 8.0 7.9 8.1 | 46.6 46.3 49.8 48.8 | 7 years | Height-for-age at 1 year | Schooling level | Sex, age of the mother, years of schooling of the mother, years of schooling of the father, asset index, urban residence, community population, community wealth, and presence of a community hospital | Improving growth in children who are stunted in infancy and maintaining nutrition in children who otherwise might falter may have significant benefit for schooling and cognitive achievement. |
Daniels, 2004 [36] Prospective cohort | Philippines | 2198 | 18.0 years | 47,1 | ≈ 16 years | Stunting at 2 years | Age at school entry | Parity, maternal and paternal education, maternal height, index of assets, index of environmental cleanliness, presence of electricity, and deflated household income | Boys and girls who were taller at 2 y were markedly less likely to drop out in grade school or to be behind in school and were therefore more likely to graduate from high school on time. |
Gandhi, 2011 [12] Prospective cohort | Malawi | 325 | 12.0 | 51.0 | ≈ 12 years | Height-for-age at 1 month, residuals height-for-age at 6, 18, and 60 months | Schooling level Grade repetition | Gender, gestational duration, father’s occupation, father’s literacy, mother’s literacy, and wealth index | Height-for-age at 1 month and conditional height gain prior to 6 months did not show significant association with the outcome measures. |
Glewwe, 1995 [38] Cross-sectional | Ghana | 1757 | 11.0 years | 48.2 | - | Height-for-age between 6 and 15 years | Age at school entry School dropout | Sex, age, zscore residual, log expenditure/capita, expenditure residual, mother's schooling, father's schooling, number of siblings, ethnic group, residence area, travel time to middle school, travel time to primary school, average teacher experience, average teacher schooling, average teacher training, fraction classrooms with blackboard, books/classroom, fraction classrooms leaking, fraction classrooms unusable, fraction classrooms shed construction, some children lack desks, private school, school has all six grades, enrollment fee, and school denies admission | Delayed primary school enrollment is caused by nutritional deficiencies in early childhood, evidence which survives numerous robustness checks. |
Glewwe, 2001 [37] Prospective cohort | Philippines | 1016 | 11 years | 48.0 | 11 years | Height-for-age | Age at school entry Grade repetition | Sex, age enrolled, month of birth effects, (instruments) month of birth, the sibling age difference, and the sibling age and sex differences interacted with the barangay level average grade repetition rate. | Better nourished children perform significantly better in school, partly because they enter school earlier and thus have more time to learn but mostly because of greater learning productivity per year of schooling. |
Grira, 2004 [34] Cross-sectional | Bangladesh | 1338 | 12.4 years | 47.0 | - | Height-for-age at 12.4 years | Schooling level | Age, sex, mother’s schooling, father's schooling, family size, agricultural land, log income/capita, school flooring type, and school expenses/income | Child health is not significantly determinant to the school enrollment decision, but, once enrolled, nutritional deficiencies substantially retard school progress as they can affect a child's cognitive achievement. |
Khanam, 2011 [39] Cross-sectional | Bangladesh | 1441 | 11.2 years | 39.0 | - | Stunting between 5 and 17 years | Age at school entry, Schooling level | Child’s age, gender of child, total household members, log household expenditure, father can read and write, mother can read and write, clean housing condition, sanitary latrine, hand washing, primary school, secondary girls’ school, secondary mixed school, distance to doctor, and availability of electricity | Malnourished children are significantly more likely to enroll in school later than the due age. It is also found that, after adjusted for actual enrolled age, the grade attainment of children is not affected by stunting condition. |
McCoy, 2015 [40] Cross-sectional | Zambia | 2711 | 6.2 years | 48.4 | NR | Height-for-age at 6.2 years | Age at school entry | Gender, child age, household size, regional income, and urbanicity | Children’s height-for-age at age 6 was significantly predictive of enrollment both concurrently and one year later, suggesting that caregivers (or primary school teachers) may be making decisions about school readiness largely based on their children’s physical size. |
Mendez, 1999 [14] Prospective cohort | Philippines | 2131 | 11.0 years | NR | 10 years | Stunting at 2 years | Grade repetition School dropout | NR | Children stunted at age 2 y had a marked delay in initial school enrollment and were much more likely to experience absences and to drop out of school than non-stunted children. |
Sunny, 2018 [10] Prospective cohort | Malawi | 1044 | NR | 47.9 | 11 years | Stunting between, 0 and 4 months, 11 and 16 months, 4 and 8 years | Age at school entry Schooling level Grade repetition | Sex, father’s education, mother’s education, household asset index at birth | Stunting in early and late childhood was associated with poor school outcomes (late enrollment and poor progression through school). |
The Partnership for Child Development, 1999 [35] Cross-sectional | Ghana Tanzania | 1566 1390 | 10.9 years 11.1 years | 49.9 52.9 | - | Ghana: stunting at 10.9 years Tanzania: stunting at 11.1 years | Schooling level | Ghana: age, Schistosoma haematobium (egg/10 ml) Tanzania: age, sex, socioeconomic status score, school travel time | Children who are stunted are more likely to delay enrollment in school. Delayed enrollment may lead to fewer years of schooling, poor educational achievement and poor employment prospects. |
Satriawan, 2009 [42] Prospective cohort | Indonesia | 1944 | Range: 7–9 years | NR | ≈ 7 years | Height-for-age and non-stunted | Age at school entry Grade repetition | Time, mother’s education, father’s education, age of household head, number of 6 to 14 year old children in the household, number of females adult in the household, number of male adults in the household, per-capita expenditure, price of rice, price of sugar, price of cooking oil, price of condensed milk, community fixed effect. | Reducing incidence of poor childhood nutrition reduces also the probability of delayed enrollment, but not the probability of repeating a grade. More importantly, the estimated effects when taking into account the endogeneity of childhood nutrition are 5 to 7 times stronger than when ignoring the endogeneity of childhood nutrition. |