Skip to main content

Table 2 Distribution (%) of variables

From: Household and community socioeconomic and environmental determinants of child nutritional status in Cameroon

Variables

1991

1998

Variables

1991

1998

N

1587

1923

 

1587

1923

Level 1 variables

  

Level 1 variables (cont'd)

  

Child characteristics

  

Economic status (ES)

  

Sex

  

1st quintile

16.5

22.6

Male

49.4

50.0

2nd quintile

15.7

23.0

Female

50.6

50.0

3rd quintile

22.6

18.0

Age (months)

  

4th quintile

20.3

19.5

0–5

17.7

19.0

5th quintile

24.9

16.9

6–11

21.1

17.7

Continuous (Mean)

-0.82

-0.99

12–23

34.6

33.9

MHSB

  

24–35

26.6

29.4

1st quintile

14.8

20.6

Breastfeeding duration

  

2nd quintile

18.3

21.9

Never breastfed

0.9

0.7

3rd quintile

19.5

21.3

Still breastfeeding

56.7

58.9

4th quintile

20.1

20.8

Breastfed 0–4 months

1.9

0.9

5th quintile

27.3

15.4

Breastfed 5–6 months

1.6

0.8

Continuous (Mean)

0.89

0.68

Breastfed 7–18 months

28.5

25.8

Household environment

  

Breastfed 19 months or more

10.4

12.6

Water

  

Missing

0.0

0.2

Poor = Well, rain, river

61.2

64.7

Preceding birth interval

  

Medium = Public tap

20.2

17.8

First born child

18.6

22.0

Good = Piped water

18.4

11.2

7–18 months

6.4

4.7

Missing

0.2

6.2

19–23 months

7.8

8.6

Sanitation

  

24 months or more

67.2

64.7

Poor = Pit latrine

55.3

69.6

Birth size

  

Medium = Bucket or improved pit latrine

7.3

4.0

Smaller than average

15.6

10.8

Good = Flush toilet

37.3

20.4

Average

54.6

52.0

Missing

0.1

6.0

Larger than average

29.8

37.2

Cooking fuel

  

Maternal characteristics

  

Poor = No electric stove or portable gas

78.9

73.1

Education

  

Good = Electric stove, portable gas

20.9

20.9

No education

34.7

33.5

Missing

0.2

6.0

Primary

41.8

40.2

   

Secondary or +

23.5

26.3

Level 2 variables

  

Maternal age at birth (yrs)

  

Place of residence

  

<20

22.8

21.1

Yaounde/Douala

14.0

7.7

20–29

51.3

52.5

Intermediate cities

25.7

18.7

30–49

25.8

26.4

Rural

60.3

73.6

Marital status

  

Region of residence

  

Married monogamy

51.4

52.2

Yaounde/Douala

14.0

7.7

Other

48.6

47.8

West/Littoral

17.6

12.5

Household characteristics

  

North-West/South-West

15.8

17.6

Indicators for ES (% yes)

  

Center/South/East

20.7

24.5

Radio

66.1

52.6

Adamaoua/North/Far-North

31.9

37.7

Electricity

35.3

34.2

Community environmental status (Mean)

-0.46

-0.75

Television

22.8

18.3

   

Car

7.9

4.7

   

Indicators for MHSB (% yes)

     

Prenatal attendance

83.9

79.5

   

Tetanus injection during pregnancy

76.5

70.4

   

Medical assistance at delivery

68.0

59.0

   

Knowledge of ORS

42.4

56.6

   
  1. ABBREVIATIONS: ES = household economic status; MHSB = maternal health-seeking behavior
  2. Notes: The ES and MHSB quintiles were constructed using pooled 1991 and 1998 DHS data to facilitate cross-year comparability. Higher proportion of children in the 1st and 2nd ES and MHSB quintile in 1998 compared with 1991 indicates declines in ES and MHSB during the 1990s, as confirmed by change in the mean value of these variables between the two periods; these changes were statistically significant at 0.001. Also note that ES and MHSB "indicators" were not included as independent variables in multivariate analyses.
Back to article page

BMC Public Health

ISSN: 1471-2458

Contact us