Associations between birth registration and early child growth and development: evidence from 31 low- and middle-income countries

Table 2 Associations between no birth certificate and children’s HAZ, WAZ, WHZ, and ECDI z-scores among children aged 36–59 months

Child outcomes	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4
HAZ (n = 50,291)
β of no birth certificate	−0.48***	−0.26***	− 0.21***	−0.18***
95% CI	(−0.52, − 0.43)	(− 0.30, − 0.22)	(−0.25, − 0.17)	(−0.23, − 0.14)
WAZ (n = 50,531)
β of no birth certificate	− 0.30***	−0.15***	− 0.11***	−0.10***
95% CI	(−0.33, − 0.27)	(− 0.18, − 0.11)	(−0.14, − 0.08)	(−0.13, − 0.07)
WHZ (n = 50,178)
β of no birth certificate	− 0.01	0.02	0.03	0.02
95% CI	(−0.04, 0.03)	(−0.01, 0.06)	(− 0.00, 0.07)	(− 0.01, 0.06)
ECDI z-score (n = 54,861)
β of no birth certificate	− 0.32***	−0.15***	− 0.10***	−0.10***
95% CI	(−0.34, − 0.29)	(− 0.18, − 0.13)	(−0.13, − 0.08)	(−0.13, − 0.07)

CI confidence interval, ECDI Early Childhood Development Index, HAZ height-for-age z-scores, WAZ weight-for-age z-scores, WHZ weight-for-height z-scores
The table presents unweighted standardized mean differences in child growth and development outcomes for children aged 36–59 months in 31 countries who did not have a birth certificate. Model 1 only adjusted for child age, sex, and country-level fixed effects. Model 2 further adjusted for maternal age, maternal education, paternal education, household wealth quintiles, and urban/rural residency. Model 3 additionally adjusted for vaccinations and attendance in an early childhood education program. Model 4 additionally adjusted for primary sampling unit-level fixed effects. All standard errors were clustered at the primary sampling unit level. ***P-value < 0.001

ISSN: 1471-2458