Table 5.

Meta-analyzed odds ratios for long birth intervals with neonatal and under-5 mortality as outcomes, comparing all children versus birth order 2-4 children of high fertility mothers

	Interval ≥60 months		Interval ≥72 months
Region (number of countries)	High fertility OR (95% CI)	High fertility, limited to birth order 2-4 OR (95% CI)	High fertility OR (95% CI)	High fertility, limited to birth order 2-4 OR (95% CI)
Outcome: Neonatal Mortality
Africa (n=28)	0.70 (0.54, 0.92)	0.82 (0.62, 1.08)	0.78 (0.58, 1.05)	0.84 (0.60, 1.18)
Asia (n=8)	0.60 (0.44, 0.81)	0.72 (0.38, 1.36)	0.56 (0.40, 0.77)	0.57 (0.32, 1.02)
Americas n = 5)	0.67 (0.41, 1.10)*	0.58 (0.31, 1.09)*	0.79 (0.35, 1.79)*	0.85 (0.32, 2.24)*
Other (n = 6)	1.13 (0.39, 3.30)	1.17 (0.38, 3.64)***	1.15 (0.33, 4.06)***	1.54 (0.31, 7.60)****
All (n=47)	0.69 (0.57, 0.84)	0.76 (0.61, 0.94)	0.75 (0.60, 0.93)	0.76 (0.58, 0.98)
Outcome: Under-5 Mortality
Africa (n=28)	0.52 (0.44, 0.61)	0.58 (0.48, 0.70)	0.51 (0.42, 0.62)	0.58 (0.45, 0.75)
Asia (n=8)	0.49 (0.36, 0.68)	0.52 (0.36, 0.74)	0.38 (0.29, 0.49)	0.40 (0.27, 0.59)
Americas n = 5)	0.59 (0.44, 0.78)	0.55 (0.35, 0.85)	0.62 (0.42, 0.91)	0.82 (0.47, 1.43)
Other (n = 6)	0.78 (0.49, 1.25)	1.26 (0.59, 2.69)**	0.71 (0.33, 1.53)	4.18 (0.93, 18.84)****
All (n=47)	0.53 (0.47, 0.61)	0.58 (0.49, 0.68)	0.50 (0.43, 0.59)	0.59 (0.47, 0.73)

*n=5, **n=3, ***n=2, ****n=1

Reference birth interval: 24-<60 months

Completed fertility: woman’s total fertility at the end of her reproductive period