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Time trends in socio-economic inequalities in stunting prevalence: analyses of repeated national surveys.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:Much is known about national trends in child undernutrition, but there is little information on how socio-economic inequalities are evolving over time. We aimed to assess socio-economic inequalities in stunting prevalence over time. DESIGN:We selected nationally representative surveys carried out since the mid-1990s for which information was available on asset indices and on child anthropometry. We identified twenty-five countries that had at least two surveys over an interval of 10 years or more, totalling eighty-seven surveys. Stunting prevalence was calculated according to wealth quintiles. Absolute and relative inequalities were calculated and time trends were obtained by regression. Setting Nationally representative household surveys from twenty-five low- and middle-income countries. SUBJECTS:Children <5 years of age. RESULTS:National prevalence declined significantly in twenty-two of the twenty-five countries. In eighteen out of twenty-five countries, relative reductions were higher among the rich than among the poor. Overall, there was no indication that inequalities improved. Striking examples are Nepal, with a 17·0 percentage points decline in stunting per decade, but where inequalities increased sharply; and Brazil, where stunting fell by 6·7 percentage points and inequalities were all but eliminated. CONCLUSIONS:Global progress in reducing stunting has not been accompanied by improved equity, but countries varied markedly in how successful they were in reducing prevalence among the poorest children. It is important to document how some countries were able to reduce inequalities, so that these lessons can be used to foster global progress, particularly in light of the increased importance of within-country inequalities in the post-2015 agenda.

SUBMITTER: Restrepo-Mendez MC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4909139 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Time trends in socio-economic inequalities in stunting prevalence: analyses of repeated national surveys.

Restrepo-Méndez María Clara MC Barros Aluísio J D AJ Black Robert E RE Victora Cesar G CG

Public health nutrition 20141218 12

<h4>Objective</h4>Much is known about national trends in child undernutrition, but there is little information on how socio-economic inequalities are evolving over time. We aimed to assess socio-economic inequalities in stunting prevalence over time.<h4>Design</h4>We selected nationally representative surveys carried out since the mid-1990s for which information was available on asset indices and on child anthropometry. We identified twenty-five countries that had at least two surveys over an in ...[more]

PMID: 25521530

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Project description:BackgroundAlthough most Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) countries made important progress in maternal and child health indicators from the 1990s up to 2010, little is known about such progress in the last decade. This study aims at documenting progress for each country as a whole, and to assess how within-country socioeconomic inequalities are evolving over time.MethodsWe identified LAC countries for which a national survey was available between 2011-2015 and a second comparable survey in 2018-2020. These included Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Honduras, Peru, and Suriname. The 16 surveys included in the analysis collected nationally representative data on 221,989 women and 152,983 children using multistage sampling. Twelve health-related outcomes were studied, seven of which related to intervention coverage: the composite coverage index, demand for family planning satisfied with modern methods, antenatal care (four or more visits and eight or more visits), skilled attendant at birth, postnatal care for the mother and full immunization coverage. Five additional impact indicators were also investigated: stunting prevalence among under-five children, tobacco use by women, adolescent fertility rate, and under-five and neonatal mortality rates. For each of these indicators, average annual relative change rates were calculated between the baseline and endline national level estimates, and changes in socioeconomic inequalities over time were assessed using the slope index of inequality.ResultsProgress over time and the magnitude of inequalities varied according to country and indicator. For countries and indicators where baseline levels were high, as Argentina, Costa Rica and Cuba, progress was slow and inequalities small for most indicators. Countries that still have room for improvements, such as Guyana, Honduras, Peru and Suriname, showed faster progress for some but not all indicators, although also had wider inequalities. Among the countries studied, Peru was the top performer in terms of increasing coverage and reducing inequalities over time, followed by Honduras. Declines in family planning and immunization coverage were observed in some countries, and the widest inequalities were present for adolescent fertility and antenatal care coverage with eight or more visits.ConclusionsAlthough LAC countries are well placed in terms of current levels of health indicators compared to most low- and middle-income countries, important inequalities remain, and reversals are being observed in some areas. More targeted efforts and actions are needed in order to leave no one behind. Monitoring progress with an equity lens is essential, but this will require further investment in conducting surveys routinely.

Project description:IntroductionThe socio-economic circumstances and health of people with disabilities has been relatively ignored in public health research, policy and practice in Australia and internationally. This is despite emerging evidence that the socio-economic circumstances that people with disabilities live in contributes to their poorer health. Compared to other developed countries, Australians with disabilities are more likely to live in disadvantaged circumstances, despite being an economically prosperous country; it is therefore likely that the socio-economic disadvantage experienced by Australians with disabilities makes a significant contribution to their health. Despite the importance of this issue Australia does not routinely monitor the socio-economic inequalities for people with disabilities. This paper addresses this gap by describing time trends in socio-economic conditions for Australians with and without disabilities according to the severity of the disability and sex.MethodsCross-sectional analyses of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers were carried out at three time points (1998, 2003 and 2009) to estimate the proportions of women and men (aged between 25 and 64 years) who were living on low incomes, had not completed year 12, were not in paid work, living in private rental and experiencing multiple disadvantage (three or more of the indicators).ResultsPeople with disabilities are less likely to have completed year 12, be in paid work and are more likely to be living on low incomes and experiencing multiple disadvantage. These conditions worsened with increasing severity of disability and increased or persisted over time, with most of the increase between 1998 and 2003. While women with milder disabilities tended to fare worse than men, the proportions were similar for those with moderate and severe/profound disabilities.ConclusionPeople with disabilities experience high levels of socio-economic disadvantage which has increased or persisted over time and these are likely to translate into poorer health outcomes. A large proportion experience multiple forms of disadvantage, reinforcing the need to tackle disadvantage in a coordinated way across sectors.People with disabilities should be a priority population group for public health. Monitoring socio-economic conditions of people with disabilities is critical for informing policy and assessing the impact of disability reforms.

Project description:BackgroundConsiderable improvements in life expectancy and other human development indicators in Indonesia are thought to mask considerable disparities between populations in the country. We examine the existence and extent of these disparities by measuring trends and inequalities in the under-five mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate across wealth, education and geography.MethodologyUsing data from seven waves of the Indonesian Demographic and Health Surveys, direct estimates of under-five and neonatal mortality rates were generated for 1980-2011. Absolute and relative inequalities were measured by rate differences and ratios, and where possible, slope and relative indices of inequality. Disparities were assessed by levels of rural/urban location, island groups, maternal education and household wealth.FindingsDeclines in national rates of under-five and neonatal mortality have accorded with reductions of absolute inequalities in clusters stratified by wealth, maternal education and rural/urban location. Across these groups, relative inequalities have generally stabilised, with possible increases with respect to mortality across wealth subpopulations. Both relative and absolute inequalities in rates of under-five and neonatal mortality stratified by island divisions have widened.ConclusionIndonesia has made considerable gains in reducing under-five and neonatal mortality at a national level, with the largest reductions happening before the Asian financial crisis (1997-98) and decentralisation (2000). Hasty implementation of decentralisation reforms may have contributed to a slowdown in mortality rate reduction thereafter. Widening inequities between the most developed provinces of Java-Bali and those of other island groupings should be of particular concern for a country embarking on an ambitious plan for universal health coverage by 2019. A focus on addressing the key supply side barriers to accessing health care and on the social determinants of health in remote and disadvantaged regions will be essential for this plan to be realised.

Project description:BackgroundStunting is determined by using the World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standard which was developed using precise measurements. However, it is unlikely that large scale surveys maintain the same level of rigour and precision when measuring the height of children. The population measure of stunting in children is sensitive to over-dispersion, and the high prevalence of stunting observed in surveys in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) could partly be due to lower measurement precison.ObjectivesTo quantify the incongruence in the dispersion of height-for-age in national surveys of < 5 y children, in relation to the standard WHO Multicenter Growth Reference Study (MGRS), and propose a measure of uncertainty in population measures of stunting.MethodsAn uncertainty factor was proposed and measured from the observed incongruence in dispersion of the height-for-age of < 5 y children in the MGRS against carefully matched populations from the Demographic Health Survey of 17 countries ('test datasets', based on the availability of data). This also allowed for the determination of uncertainty-corrected prevalence of stunting (height-for-age Z score < - 2) in < 5 y children.ResultsThe uncertainty factor was estimated for 17 LMICs. This ranged from 0.9 to 2.1 for Peru and Egypt respectively (reference value 1). As an explicit country example, the dispersion of height-for-age in the Indian National Family Health Survey-4 test dataset was 39% higher than the MGRS study, with an uncertainty factor of 1.39. From this, the uncertainty-adjusted Indian national stunting prevalence estimate reduced to 18.7% from the unadjusted estimate of 36.2%.ConclusionsThis study proposes a robust statistical method to estimate uncertainty in stunting prevalence estimates due to incongruent dispersions of height measured in national surveys for children < 5 years in relation to the WHO height-for-age standard. The uncertainty is partly due to population heterogeneity, but also due to measurement precision, and calls for better quality in these measurements.

Project description:BACKGROUND:With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a renewed commitment of tackling the varied challenges of undernutrition, particularly stunting (SDG 2.2). Health equity is also a priority in the SDG agenda and there is an urgent need for disaggregated analyses to identify disadvantaged subgroups. We compared time trends in socioeconomic inequalities obtained through stratification by wealth quintiles and deciles for stunting prevalence. METHODS:We used 37 representative Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster surveys from nine Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries conducted between 1996 and 2016. Stunting in children under-5 years was assessed according to the 2006 WHO Child Growth Standards and stratified by wealth quintiles and deciles. Within-country socioeconomic inequalities were measured through concentration index (CIX) and slope index of inequality (SII). We used variance-weighted least squares regression to estimate annual changes. RESULTS:Eight out of nine countries showed a statistical evidence of reduction in stunting prevalence over time. Differences between extreme deciles were larger than between quintiles in most of countries and at every point in time. However, when using summary measures of inequality, there were no differences in the estimates of SII with the use of deciles and quintiles. In absolute terms, there was a reduction in socioeconomic inequalities in Peru, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Belize, Suriname and Colombia. In relative terms, there was an increase in socioeconomic inequalities in Peru, Bolivia, Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala. CONCLUSIONS:LAC countries have made substantial progress in terms of reducing stunting,. Nevertheless, renewed actions are needed to improve equity. Particularly in those countries were absolute and relative inequalities did not change over time such Bolivia and Guatemala. Finer breakdowns in wealth distribution are expected to elucidate more differences between subgroups; however, this approach is relevant to cast light on those subgroups that are still lagging behind within populations and inform equity-oriented health programs and practices.

Dataset Information

Time trends in socio-economic inequalities in stunting prevalence: analyses of repeated national surveys.

Publications

Time trends in socio-economic inequalities in stunting prevalence: analyses of repeated national surveys.

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