Table 2.

Links between IYCF and nutrition outcomes in 6-to-23-month-old Indian children

Nutrition outcome	Stunted		Underweight		Wasted		Anaemic
Model	(1) full	(2) no soc.-econ	(3) full	(4) no soc.-econ	(5) full	(6) no soc.-econ	(7) full	(8) no soc.-econ
Infant & young child feeding
Weaned (fed semisolid food)	0.919*	0.900**	0.892***	0.876***	0.874***	0.874***	0.993	0.990
	0.035	0.034	0.024	0.023	0.025	0.024	0.024	0.023
Minimum dietary diversity	0.912*	0.865***	0.902***	0.872***	0.956	0.942*	0.966	0.954*
	0.035	0.033	0.024	0.023	0.028	0.027	0.022	0.021
Minimum dietary frequency	1.014	1.014	0.987	0.976	1.017	1.007	1.016	1.018
	0.034	0.034	0.023	0.022	0.025	0.025	0.021	0.020
Breastfed	1.133**	1.208***	1.210***	1.263***	1.126***	1.148***	0.934*	0.950˚
	0.052	0.055	0.039	0.040	0.040	0.040	0.026	0.026
Child characteristics
Female child	0.785***	0.790***	0.782***	0.790***	0.878***	0.878***	0.983	0.988
	0.022	0.022	0.015	0.015	0.018	0.018	0.017	0.016
Age (comp. to 6–11 months)
12–17 months	2.374***	2.374***	1.316***	1.330***	0.901***	0.897***	0.999	1.001
	0.089	0.087	0.033	0.032	0.023	0.023	0.022	0.021
18–23 months	3.672***	3.710***	1.721***	1.742***	0.773***	0.772***	1.008	1.015
	0.142	0.141	0.044	0.044	0.021	0.021	0.023	0.023
Preterm	1.248***	1.270***	1.175***	1.185***	1.063	1.065	1.027	1.021
	0.071	0.071	0.047	0.046	0.045	0.045	0.037	0.036
Any prelacteal feed	0.996	0.979	0.969	0.945*	0.989	0.977	1.020	1.015
	0.036	0.036	0.026	0.025	0.028	0.028	0.024	0.024
Breastfed within 1 h of birth	1.066˚	1.050	1.014	1.017	1.008	1.011	0.954*	0.963˚
	0.035	0.034	0.024	0.023	0.025	0.025	0.020	0.020
Had diarrhoea in the last 2 weeks	1.011	1.021	1.136***	1.137***	1.121***	1.124***	1.030	1.030
	0.039	0.039	0.031	0.030	0.032	0.032	0.026	0.025
Birth order	1.063***	1.161***	1.071***	1.154***	1.036***	1.067***	1.021*	1.046***
	0.015	0.015	0.011	0.011	0.011	0.011	0.009	0.009
Birth interval	0.997***	0.998***	0.997***	0.997***	0.998***	0.998***	1.000	1.000
	0.001	0.001	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
Maternal characteristics
Mother’s age at birth	0.993˚	0.982***	0.985***	0.976***	1.000	0.997	0.993**	0.990***
	0.004	0.004	0.003	0.003	0.003	0.003	0.002	0.002
Mother undernourished	1.367***	1.458***	1.904***	2.032***	1.515***	1.562***	1.197***	1.231***
	0.044	0.047	0.044	0.046	0.037	0.038	0.027	0.027
Mother’s education in years	0.959***		0.963***		0.986***		0.986***
	0.003		0.002		0.003		0.002
Household characteristics
HH size	0.989˚	0.979***	0.988**	0.975***	0.994	0.988**	1.010**	1.003
	0.006	0.005	0.004	0.004	0.004	0.004	0.004	0.004
Female head of HH	0.995	1.020	1.006	1.017	0.963	0.973	0.992	0.987
	0.042	0.042	0.030	0.030	0.031	0.031˚	0.026	0.026
Number of children under 5 in HH	1.106***	1.130***	1.074***	1.091***	1.021	1.026	1.008	1.014
	0.022	0.022	0.015	0.015	0.015	0.015	0.013	0.013
Caste (comp. to scheduled caste)
Scheduled tribe	0.897*		0.962		1.125**		1.180***
	0.044		0.034		0.043		0.040
Other backward caste	0.867***		0.898***		0.992		0.904***
	0.033		0.024		0.028		0.022
Upper caste	0.671***		0.752***		0.913*		0.873***
	0.035		0.026		0.034		0.026
Religion (comp. to Hindu)
Muslim	1.054		0.969		0.963		0.862***
	0.047		0.031		0.034		0.025
Other (Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Traditional…)	0.974		0.749***		0.748***		0.807***
	0.080		0.038		0.040		0.035
Wealth quintile (comp. to lowest)
Lower middle	0.865***		0.893***		0.943˚		0.976
	0.034		0.025		0.029		0.026
Middle	0.816***		0.780***		0.893**		0.974
	0.037		0.025		0.031		0.029
Upper middle	0.725***		0.689***		0.840***		0.930*
	0.035		0.025		0.033		0.030
Highest	0.639***		0.575***		0.763***		0.887**
	0.041		0.025		0.036		0.034
Season of interview (comp. to winter)
Summer	1.002	0.973	1.204***	1.166***	1.224***	1.215***	1.189***	1.197***
	0.040	0.038	0.054	0.052	0.059	0.058	0.051	0.050
Monsoon	1.145**	1.127**	1.460***	1.395***	1.426***	1.393***	1.295***	1.306***
	0.050	0.048	0.074	0.070	0.077	0.076	0.066	0.065
Autumn	1.142	1.187*	1.100	1.114	1.191	1.256*	1.102	1.135
	0.107	0.102	0.113	0.110	0.133	0.136	0.115	0.110
Private improved toilet	0.870***	0.686***	0.876***	0.676***	0.909***	0.802***	0.916***	0.826***
	0.033	0.023	0.022	0.015	0.024	0.019	0.020	0.016
Communal characteristics
District toilet prevalence	0.932	0.612***	0.450***	0.304***	0.596***	0.503***	0.644***	0.566***
	0.087	0.050	0.040	0.026	0.056	0.045	0.063	0.051
Urban	1.011		1.037		1.038		0.954*
	0.043		0.028		0.030		0.022
Coastal	0.835**		1.013		1.202**		1.063
	0.057		0.065		0.081		0.075
ICC	0.102	0.104	0.045	0.041	0.043	0.040	0.062	0.059

All regressions were estimated using multilevel logistic regressions with the first level individual/household, second level the district, and third level the Indian state. The numbers next to the variables are adjusted odd ratios (AOR), below are standard errors. The N for all regressions is 57,021. The interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) shows that between 4 and 10% variation in children’s nutrition outcomes is due to community-level variables

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < .05; °p < 0.1