Table 2.
Definitions and summary statistics of variables used in the analysis, Demographic Health Surveys from 48 low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, 2010–2016
| Variable | Definition | Mean | SD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome variables | |||
| Antenatal care | = 1 if mother received four or more antenatal care, 0 otherwise | 0.58 | 0.49 |
| Supervised delivery | = 1 if delivery assisted by a health professional such as a midwife, doctor or nurse. 0 otherwise | 0.52 | 0.50 |
| Child vaccination | = 1 if the child completed the WHO recommended immunization schedule for four routine vaccines, 0 otherwise | 0.49 | 0.50 |
| Stunting | = 1 if the height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) of the child is below minus two SD from the median of the reference population, defined by the WHO growth standards, 0 otherwise | 0.33 | 0.47 |
| Underweight | = 1 if the weight-for-height Z-Score (WHZ) of the child is below minus two SD from the median of the reference population, defined by the WHO growth standards, 0 otherwise | 0.21 | 0.41 |
| Wasting | = 1 if the weight-for-age (WAZ) of the child is below minus two SD from the median of the reference population, defined by the WHO growth standards, 0 otherwise | 0.11 | 0.31 |
| Exposure variable | |||
| Unwanted pregnancy | = 1 if the pregnancy is unwanted, 0 otherwise | 0.09 | 0.28 |
| Wanted pregnancy (Ref.) | = 1 if the pregnancy is wanted, 0 otherwise | 0.91 | 0.28 |
| Birth characteristics | |||
| Male | = 1 if the child is male, 0 otherwise | 0.51 | 0.50 |
| Female (Ref.) | = 1 if the child is female, 0 otherwise | 0.49 | 0.50 |
| Age of child (years) | Child’s age in years | 2.40 | 1.43 |
| Birth order# 1 (Ref.) | = 1 if the birth order of the child is one, 0 otherwise | 0.26 | 0.44 |
| Birth order# 2 | = 1 if the birth order of the child is two, 0 otherwise | 0.22 | 0.41 |
| Birth order# 3 and above | = 1 if the birth order of the child is three or above, 0 otherwise | 0.51 | 0.50 |
| Household-level covariates | |||
| Mother’s age at birth (< 20 years) | = 1 if the mother’s age at birth is less than 20 years, 0 otherwise | 0.10 | 0.30 |
| Mother’s age at birth (19 < years < 41) (Ref.) | = 1 if the mother’s age at birth is between 20 and 40 years, 0 otherwise | 0.85 | 0.36 |
| Mother’s age at birth (> 40 years) | = 1 if the mother’s age at birth is greater than 40 years, 0 otherwise | 0.05 | 0.21 |
| Mother’s marital status—married (Ref.) | = 1 if the mother is married, 0 otherwise, 0 otherwise | 0.84 | 0.37 |
| Mother’s marital status—formally married | = 1 if the mother is formally married, 0 otherwise | 0.16 | 0.37 |
| Mother’s education (years) | Mother’s education in years | 5.38 | 4.94 |
| Household socio-economic status, 1st quintile (Ref.) | 1 = if the socio-economic status of the household is in the first (lowest) quintile, 0 otherwise | 0.20 | 0.40 |
| Household socio-economic status, 2nd quintile | 1 = if the socio-economic status of the household is in the second quintile, 0 otherwise | 0.20 | 0.40 |
| Household socio-economic status, 3rd quintile | 1 = if the socio-economic status of the household is in the third quintile, 0 otherwise | 0.20 | 0.40 |
| Household socio-economic status, 4th quintile | 1 = if the socio-economic status of the household is in the fourth quintile, 0 otherwise | 0.20 | 0.40 |
| Household socio-economic status, 5th quintile | 1 = if the socio-economic status of the household is in the fifth (highest) quintile, 0 otherwise | 0.20 | 0.40 |
| Rural | 1 = if the child resides in a rural area, 0 otherwise | 0.67 | 0.47 |
| Urban (Ref.) | 1 = if the child resides in an urban area, 0 otherwise | 0.33 | 0.47 |
| Country-level covariates | |||
| Log gross domestic product per capita | Natural log of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity, constant 2011 international $ | 8.11 | 0.79 |
| Log public health expenditures per capita | Natural log of public health expenditures per capita at purchasing power parity, constant 2011 international $ | 3.95 | 0.82 |
| Country fixed effects covariates | |||
| 48 dummy variables for countries | = 1 if the child was born in the country, 0 otherwise (dummy variable for Nigeria was used as Ref. ) | – | – |
We used the de-normalized standard weight (as per the Demographic Health Survey Sampling and Household Listing Manual (ICF International 2012) as a weight to compute summary statistics
SD standard deviation, WHO World Health Organization, Ref. reference category in the regression analyses