Table 2.
Association between stunting, wasting and underweight and characteristics of a child, mother and household, and contextual factors from 2010 to 2019 DHS across the 31 Sub-Saharan African Countries.
| Independent Variables | Stunting (Weighted %) | 95% CI | p-Value | Wasting (Weighted %) | 95% CI | p-Value | Underweight (Weighted %) | 95% CI | p-Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key predictor variables | |||||||||
| Maternal marital status | 0.382 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Single | 31.3 | 30.5–32.0 | 6.4 | 6.0–6.7 | 15.5 | 15.0–16.1 | |||
| Married | 31.2 | 30.9–31.5 | 8.6 | 8.4–8.8 | 17.6 | 17.4–17.9 | |||
| Type of cooking fuel | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Unclean | 32.6 | 32.4–32.9 | 8.7 | 8.5–8.9 | 18.3 | 18.1–18.5 | |||
| Clean | 18.8 | 18.1–18.4 | 5.0 | 4.6–5.3 | 9 | 8.5–9.5 | |||
| Child characteristics | |||||||||
| Age of child | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| 0 | 16.8 | 16.4–17.2 | 11.1 | 10.8–11.4 | 13.56 | 13.2–13.0 | |||
| 1 | 36.3 | 35.8–36.8 | 9.7 | 9.4–10.0 | 19.97 | 19.6–20.4 | |||
| 2 | 43.5 | 42.9–44.1 | 6.2 | 5.9–6.5 | 20.59 | 20.1–21.1 | |||
| 3 | 37.2 | 36.438.0 | 4.3 | 4.0–4.6 | 16.84 | 16.3–17.4 | |||
| 4 | 28.2 | 27.3–29.0 | 4.4 | 4.0–4.8 | 15.35 | 14.7–16.1 | |||
| Sex of child | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Male | 34.0 | 33.6–34.4 | 9.2 | 8.9–9.4 | 18.84 | 18.5–19.1 | |||
| Female | 28.3 | 28.0–28.7 | 7.5 | 7.2–7.7 | 15.85 | 15.6–16.1 | |||
| Birth order | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| 1 | 29.5 | 28.9–30.0 | 7.5 | 7.2–7.8 | 15.23 | 14.8–15.7 | |||
| 2 to 4 | 30.0 | 29.4–30.1 | 7.9 | 7.7–8.2 | 16.15 | 15.9–16.4 | |||
| 5 and above | 34.4 | 33.9–34.8 | 9.3 | 9.1–9.6 | 20.45 | 20.0–20.8 | |||
| Perceived size at birth | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Large | 26.7 | 26.3–27.1 | 6.4 | 6.2–6.6 | 12.93 | 12.6–13.2 | |||
| Average | 31.4 | 31.0–31.8 | 8.3 | 8.1–8.5 | 17.02 | 16.7–17.3 | |||
| Small | 39.8 | 39.1–40.4 | 12.2 | 11.7–12.6 | 27.45 | 26.9–28.0 | |||
| Mother’s characteristics | |||||||||
| Maternal age | 0.604 | <0.001 | 0.189 | ||||||
| 15–19 | 31.0 | 30.0–31.9 | 9.6 | 9.0–10.2 | 17.68 | 16.9–18.5 | |||
| 20–49 | 31.2 | 31.0–31.5 | 8.2 | 8.1–8.4 | 17.33 | 17.1–17.5 | |||
| Educational attainment | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| No education | 36.6 | 36.2–37.0 | 11.5 | 11.3–11.8 | 24.02 | 23.7–24.3 | |||
| Primary | 32.6 | 32.1–33.0 | 6.4 | 6.2–6.7 | 15.1 | 14.8–15.5 | |||
| Secondary | 22.6 | 22.2–23.1 | 5.6 | 5.3–5.9 | 10.19 | 9.9–10.5 | |||
| Higher | 10.9 | 10.0–11.9 | 4.6 | 4.0–5.3 | 5.81 | 5.1–6.6 | |||
| Working status | 0.017 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| No | 30.8 | 30.3–31.2 | 9.6 | 9.4–9.9 | 18.16 | 17.8–18.5 | |||
| Yes | 31.4 | 31.1–31.8 | 7.6 | 7.4–7.7 | 16.91 | 16.7–17.3 | |||
| Antenatal visits during pregnancy | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| No | 41.7 | 41.0–42.6 | 12.5 | 12.0–13.1 | 28.42 | 27.7–29.2 | |||
| Yes | 30.0 | 29.8–30.3 | 7.8 | 7.7–8.0 | 16.1 | 15.9–16.3 | |||
| Dont’know | 26.3 | 24.4–28.2 | 7.6 | 6.5–8.8 | 13.07 | 11.7–14.6 | |||
| Postnatal check within 2 months | <0.001 | 0.748 | <0.001 | ||||||
| No | 33.0 | 32.6–33.3 | 8.3 | 8.1–8.5 | 18.54 | 18.3–18.8 | |||
| Yes | 28.7 | 28.3–29.1 | 8.4 | 8.1–8.6 | 15.69 | 15.4–16.0 | |||
| Place of delivery | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Home | 38.5 | 38.1–39.0 | 11.2 | 11.0–11.5 | 24.9 | 24.5–25.3 | |||
| Health facility | 27.8 | 27.5–28.1 | 7.0 | 6.8–7.1 | 13.87 | 13.6–14.1 | |||
| Other | 34.8 | 32.4–37.3 | 7.5 | 6.2–9.0 | 19.26 | 17.3–21.4 | |||
| Household characteristics | |||||||||
| Wealth status | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Poor | 37.2 | 36.8–37.6 | 9.4 | 9.1–9.6 | 21.28 | 20.9–21.6 | |||
| Middle | 32.6 | 32.0–33.2 | 8.2 | 7.9–8.6 | 17.8 | 17.3–18.3 | |||
| Rich | 23.7 | 23.4–24.1 | 7.2 | 6.9–7.4 | 12.71 | 12.4–13.0 | |||
| Age of household head | 0.680 | 0.791 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Young-adults | 31.5 | 31.1–32.0 | 8.2 | 7.9–8.4 | 16.8 | 16.5–17.1 | |||
| Middle-aged adults | 30.9 | 30.5–31.3 | 8.5 | 8.2–8.7 | 17.83 | 17.5–18.1 | |||
| Old-aged adults | 31.1 | 30.4–31.8 | 8.3 | 7.9–8.7 | 17.61 | 17.0–18.2 | |||
| Sex of household head | <0.05 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Male | 31.4 | 31.1–31.7 | 8.7 | 8.5–8.9 | 17.78 | 17.5–18.0 | |||
| Female | 30.5 | 30.0–31.0 | 6.9 | 6.6–7.3 | 15.72 | 15.3–16.2 | |||
| Access to electricity | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| No | 35.3 | 35.0–35.6 | 9.2 | 9.0–9.4 | 20.01 | 19.7–20.3 | |||
| Yes | 22.1 | 21.7–22.5 | 6.3 | 6.0–6.5 | 11.47 | 11.1–11.8 | |||
| Type of toilet facility | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Improved | 26.8 | 26.4–27.2 | 6.4 | 6.2–6.6 | 13.07 | 12.8–13.3 | |||
| Unimproved | 34.5 | 34.1–34.8 | 9.7 | 9.5–9.9 | 20.54 | 20.3–20.8 | |||
| Source of drinking water | <0.001 | <0.05 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Improved | 30.1 | 29.8–30.4 | 8.2 | 8.0–8.4 | 16.64 | 16.4–16.9 | |||
| Unimproved | 33.4 | 32.9–33.8 | 8.5 | 8.3–8.8 | 18.72 | 18.4–19.1 | |||
| Access to media (tv/radio/newspaper) | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| No | 37.9 | 37.4–38.3 | 10.0 | 9.7–10.2 | 22.43 | 22.0–22.8 | |||
| Yes | 27.6 | 27.3–27.9 | 7.4 | 7.2–7.6 | 14.6 | 14.4–14.8 | |||
| Contextual factors | |||||||||
| Urbanicity | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Urban | 23.6 | 23.2–24.0 | 6.6 | 6.3–6.8 | 12.12 | 11.8–12.4 | |||
| Rural | 35.0 | 34.7–35.4 | 9.2 | 9.0–9.4 | 20 | 19.7–20.3 | |||
| Geographic region | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||
| Western Africa | 29.0 | 28.6–29.4 | 9.6 | 9.4–9.8 | 18.55 | 18.2–18.9 | |||
| Eastern Africa | 34.6 | 34.1–35.0 | 7.1 | 6.9–7.4 | 16.44 | 16.1–16.8 | |||
| Central Africa | 31.8 | 31.3–32.4 | 8.6 | 8.3–8.9 | 18.74 | 18.3–19.2 | |||
| South Africa | 25.8 | 24.7–26.8 | 4.4 | 3.9–4.9 | 8.59 | 8.0–9.3 |