Refrigerator ownership and child health and nutrition in low- and middle-income countries

Abstract

Undernutrition and diarrhea cause stunted growth and poor child health. Refrigerators allow consumption of perishable foods and reduce food contaminations causing diarrhea. This study used 188 Demographic and Health Surveys from 66 low- and middle-income countries with adjusted regressions and coarsened exact matching, comparing children within the same neighborhoods and narrow groups of household wealth, as well as other important variables, simultaneously. Children in households with a refrigerator had 0.08 (95% confidence interval: 0.03, 0.13) to 0.12 (95% confidence interval: 0.01, 0.23) greater height-for-age z-score. Results for diarrhea and complementary feeding of perishable foods were less robust, which may relate to shortcomings in these measures, although point estimates indicated beneficial effects, particularly at low socioeconomic status.