• Renuka Devi Logarajan, Norashidah Mohamed Nor, Saifuzzaman Ibrahim, and Rusmawati Said.
• School of Business and Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: lrenu14@gmail.com.
• Nutrition. 2023 Jul 1; 111: 112030112030.

ObjectiveThis study aims to assess social determinants of stunting among children aged <5 y within the Malay ethnicity in Malaysia.MethodsThis study used data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2016: Maternal and Child Health. It includes a sample of 10 686 children, ages 0 to 59 mo, of Malay ethnicity. Height-for-age z score was determined based on the World Health Organization Anthro software. A binary logistic regression model was used to examine the association between the selected social determinants and the occurrence of stunting.ResultsAbout 22.5% of children aged <5 y of Malay ethnicity were stunted. For those ages 0 to 23 mo, stunting is more prevalent in boys, in rural areas, and in those who have screen exposure, whereas a reduction of stunting was observed for those children whose mothers work in the private sector and in those who consume formula milk and meat. As for those ages 24 to 59 mo, there was a higher prevalence of stunting for those with self-employed mothers and reduced prevalence in children with hygienic waste disposal practices as well as those who play with toys.ConclusionsThe prevalence of stunting among children of Malay ethnicity aged <5 in Malaysia necessitates immediate intervention. It is pertinent to facilitate early identification of those children at risk of stunting for additional care to promote healthy growth.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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