Table 7.

Adjusted odds ratios of short stature (height less than 145 cm) among married nulliparous adolescents (15–19 years) and young women (20–24 years).

	Bangladesh DHS 2022	India DHS 2021	Maldives DHS 2017	Nepal DHS 2022	Pakistan DHS 2018	Sri Lanka DHS 2016	Pooled
							Latest rounds
Sector
Rural	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Urban	0.44	1.17	1	1.7	2.99	0.69	1.14
	[0.18, 1.10]	[0.97, 1.41]	[1.00, 1.00]	[0.65, 4.41]	[0.56, 15.97]	[0.16, 2.95]	[0.93, 1.39]
Education respondent
Up to 10 years	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
More than 10 years	0.73	0.66***	1	0.74	0.17	0.28	0.68***
	[0.33, 1.65]	[0.58, 0.75]	[1.00, 1.00]	[0.23, 2.32]	[0.01, 1.90]	[0.07, 1.07]	[0.59, 0.79]
Desire for children
Want soon	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Want no more/Others	0.83	1.1	1	7.14	0.41	1	1.12
	[0.23, 2.98]	[0.92, 1.32]	[1.00, 1.00]	[0.70, 72.98]	[0.04, 4.24]	[0.21, 4.76]	[0.93, 1.34]
Wealth
Bottom 40%	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Top 60%	0.67	0.52***	0.41	0.54	0.84	0.86	0.52***
	[0.31, 1.46]	[0.45, 0.59]	[0.10, 1.69]	[0.18, 1.59]	[0.17, 4.13]	[0.34, 2.18]	[0.45, 0.60]
Household size
≤4	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
>4	1.14	0.85*	0.77	2.45	1.82	0.89	0.89
	[0.52, 2.54]	[0.75, 0.96]	[0.18, 3.26]	[0.85, 7.04]	[0.27, 12.03]	[0.36, 2.18]	[0.78, 1.01]
Woman age
20–24 years	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
15–19 years	0.76	1.22**	2.27	0.39	2.34	1.12	1.19*
	[0.35, 1.66]	[1.08, 1.38]	[0.45, 11.47]	[0.13, 1.17]	[0.61, 9.02]	[0.39, 3.24]	[1.04, 1.36]
Constant	0.12***	0.23***	0.09***	0.09***	0.03**	0.22*	0.20***
	[0.05, 0.26]	[0.20, 0.26]	[0.02, 0.31]	[0.03, 0.30]	[0.00, 0.33]	[0.05, 0.98]	[0.17, 0.23]
N	503	18,388	190	249	206	391	19,990

Note: Levels of significance: * for p < 0.05, ** for p < 0.01, and *** for p < 0.001.