Hubungan Usia Kehamilan Ibu dengan Derajat Stunting Anak Bawah Lima Tahun di Puskesmas Panti

Abstract

Background: East Java Province is among the provinces with the highest number of stunting cases in children under five, with a prevalence of 19.2%. In Jember Regency, 6,914 children (or 4.5%) are stunted, measured based on height-for-age (H/A). Meanwhile, Panti Subdistrict ranks fourth with a prevalence of 262 children (6.8%) experiencing stunting (Jember Health Profile, 2023). Objective: To analyze the relationship between maternal age at pregnancy and the severity of stunting, classified as stunted and severely stunted, among children aged 0–59 months who have already been identified as stunted in Kemiri Village, working area of Panti Public Health Center, Jember Regency. Method: This study used a cross- sectional survey design with a population of 63. The sampling technique employed was probability sampling, specifically purposive sampling, with a total of 54 mothers who have stunted children, determined using the Slovin formula. Results: In this study, the number of early-age pregnancies was 16 (29.6%). The number of stunted toddlers in the 'short' category was 38 (70.3%), and in the 'very short' category was 16 (29.7%). Based on the Chi-Square analysis, the p-value was 0.866 > α (0.05), indicating that there is no significant relationship between early-age pregnancy and stunting incidence, which means that the null hypothesis (Ho) is accepted. Conclusion: This study shows that there is no significant relationship between early maternal age at pregnancy and stunting in children under five. This indicates that early pregnancy is not a direct contributing factor to the risk of stunting in children, and other influencing factors may be involved.