A cross-sectional study on selected child health outcomes in India: Quantifying the spatial variations and identification of the parental risk factors

Parul Puri,Apurba Shil,Junaid Khan,Mohammad Ali

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-63210-5

Abstract

This study examined association between selected child health indicators- anaemia, stunting and no/incomplete immunization by inter-linking maternal characteristics at district level and parental characteristics at individual level. A spatial analysis and a binary logit model estimation were employed to draw inferences using the data from the fourth round of National Family Health Survey, 2015–16 of India. Significant spatial clustering of the selected child health outcomes was observed in the country. Mother’s educational attainment explained significant district level differential in the selected child health outcomes. At the individual level, parents who are very young, not-educated, socially excluded, belong to poor class were found to be significantly associated with the poor child health outcomes. This study indicates that parental characteristics, such as age, educational attainment and employment substantially determine child health in India, suggesting that an intervention by targeting the households where children are vulnerable is important to improve child health in the country.

Highlights

Background variables Parental Age Both YoungMother Young Father Young Both Older Parental Education Both Not Educated Only Father completed at least Primary Only Mother completed at least Primary Both of them completed at least Primary Parental Occupation Both Unemployed Only Father Working Only Mother Working Both Working Residence Urban Rural Caste Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/Scheduled Tribe (ST)) Other Backward Classes (OBC) Non-Scheduled Caste/Tribes (SC/STs) and Non-OBC Religion Hindu Muslim Others Wealth Poorest Poorer Middle Richer Richest Region Northern North-eastern Central Eastern Western Southern India and Spatial Error Model (SEM) estimation for anaemia, stunting and no-or-partial immunization were found to be 0.61, 0.57 and 0.74 respectively
Child health Outcome variables Anaemia Non-Anaemic Anaemic Missing Stunting No Yes Missing Immunization status Fully immunized No/partially immunized Background Characteristics Parental Age Both Young Mother Young Father Young Both Older Parental Education Both Not Educated Only Father completed at least Primary Only Mother completed at least Primary Both of them completed at least Primary Parental Occupation Both Unemployed Only Father Working Only Mother Working Both Working Residence Urban Rural Caste Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST) Other Backward Classes (OBC) Non-SC/ST and Non-OBC (Ref.) Religion Hindu Muslim Others Wealth Poorest Poorer Middle Richer Richest Region Northern North-eastern Central Eastern Western Southern Total
Background variables Parental Age Both Young Mother Young Father Young Both Older Parental Education Both Not Educated Only Father completed at least Primary Only Mother completed at least Primary Both of them completed at least Primary Parental Occupation Both Unemployed Only Father Working Only Mother Working Both Working Residence Urban Rural Caste Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/ST) Other Backward Classes (OBC) Non-SC/ST and Non-OBC Religion Hindu Muslim Others Wealth Poorest Poorer Middle Richer Richest Region Northern North-eastern Central Eastern Western Southern India

Summary

Introduction

Mother Young Father Young Both Older Parental Education Both Not Educated Only Father completed at least Primary Only Mother completed at least Primary Both of them completed at least Primary Parental Occupation Both Unemployed Only Father Working Only Mother Working Both Working Residence Urban Rural Caste Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/ST) Other Backward Classes (OBC) Non-SC/ST and Non-OBC Religion Hindu Muslim Others Wealth Poorest Poorer Middle Richer Richest Region Northern North-eastern Central Eastern Western Southern India and SEM estimation for anaemia, stunting and no-or-partial immunization were found to be 0.61, 0.57 and 0.74 respectively. Young (Ref.) Mother Young Father Young Both Older Parental Education Both Not Educated(Ref.) Only Father completed at least Primary Only Mother completed at least Primary Both of them completed at least Primary Parental Occupation Both Unemployed (Ref.) Only Father Working Only Mother Working Both Working Residence Urban Rural (Ref.) Caste Scheduled Caste/Tribe (SC/ST) Other Backward Classes (OBC) Non-SC/ST and Non-OBC (Ref.) Religion Hindu Muslim Others (Ref.) Wealth Poorest Poorer Middle Richer Richest (Ref.) Region Northern North-eastern Central Eastern Western Southern (Ref.).

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Conclusion