THE ROLE OF ANTENATAL CARE AND ULTRASOUND ON STUNTING DETECTION: NARRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Stunting is one of the health problems in the world that causes developmental disorders through decreased physical, mental and social abilities. Many factors influence the incidence of   stunting, such as Intrauterine Growth Retardation (IUGR), premature birth, Low Birth Length (LBL), Low Birth Weight (LBW), and a history of maternal pregnancies such as mothers with malnutrition and the low frequency of Antenatal Care (ANC) attendance. The process of becoming stunted has started since the intrauterine period, therefore stunting prevention can be done since pregnancy. This study uses the Narrative Review method. Literature review through Pubmed NCBI, Science Direct, and Springer Link databases. The keywords used are "Antenatal care and stunting" AND "Antenatal ultrasonography and stunting”.   The criteria for articles in this study are full text, free access, research articles, review articles, in English, population and samples of pregnant women who carry out antenatal care and antenatal ultrasound examinations, and the publication period of the last 10 years (2012-2022). We found 7 articles which discusses about this. High ANC coverage is needed to optimize maternal health and nutrition as well as intrauterine fetal growth. Antenatal Ultrasonography (USG) has proven useful by enabling early detection of problems such as IUGR, increasing the accuracy of gestational age assessment which will assist management in cases of suspected preterm birth, and being a positive predictor of parent-infant interaction which can promote healthy fetal development. High ANC coverage and regular antenatal ultrasound examinations can detect and reduce the incidence of stunting.