Growth and development and their environmental and biological determinants

Objective to investigate child growth,cognitive/language development,and their environmental and biological determinants. methods this was a cross-sectional,predictive correlation study with all 92 children aged 24-36 months who attended the municipal early childhood education network in a town in the vale do jequitinhonha region,in 2011. the socioeconomic profile was determined using the questionnaire of the associação brasileira de empresas de pesquisa. the socio-demographicand maternal and child health profiles were created through a self-prepared questionnaire. the height-for-age indicator was selected to represent growth. cognitive/language development was assessed through the bayley scale of infant and toddler development. the quality of educational environments was assessed by infant/toddler environment scale; the home environment was assessed by the home observation for measurement of the environment. the neighborhood quality was determined by a self-prepared questionnaire. a multivariate linear regression analysis was performed. results families were predominantly from socioeconomic class d,with low parental education. the prevalence of stunted growth was 14.1%; cognitive and language development were below average at 28.6% and 28.3%,respectively. educational institutions were classified as inadequate,and 69.6% of homes were classified as presenting a risk for development. factors such as access to parks and pharmacies and perceived security received the worst score regarding neighborhood environment. biological variables showed a greater association with growth and environmental variables with development. conclusion the results showed a high prevalence of stunting and below-average results for cognitive/language development among the participating children. both environmental and biological factors were related to growth and development. however,biological variables showed a greater association with growth,whereas environmental variables were associated with development. © 2015 sociedade brasileira de pediatria.