ArticleBMC women's health2020
Women's empowerment is associated with maternal nutrition and low birth weight: evidence from Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey.
Article in BMC women's health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Women's Empowerment, Food Security, and Nutrition Transition in Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
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- Untargeted Metabolomics Analysis of Human Milk from Breastfeeding Bangladeshi Women Reveals Amino Acid Metabolic Pathways Associated with Maternal Nutritional Status and Infant Growth.The Journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Women's empowerment and health: nationwide insights on selected non-communicable conditions in Bangladesh.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Completion of the maternal continuum of care in Kenya and Tanzania: role of quality antenatal care and other factors in a cross-sectional study.Research square · 2026Article
- Women's empowerment and nutritional status of children: new evidence for Bangladesh.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Small intestinal microbiota of undernourished women of reproductive age and microbiota-directed balanced energy protein (MD-BEP) supplementation in maternal environmental enteric dysfunction (EED): protocol for a community-based intervention study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Environmental enteric dysfunction in well-nourished and undernourished women in Bangladesh.BMC gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Beyond birth rates: a theoretical framework for women's reproductive autonomy and quality childbearing.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Understanding the issues of women's empowerment and fertility in Bangladesh.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Parental Socioeconomic, Demographic, and Neonatal Factors Influencing Infants' Low Birth Weight: A Cross-Sectional Study in Bangladesh.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Factors associated with anemia among pregnant and lactating women during the COVID-19 pandemic in the targeted municipalities of five selected provinces in Nepal: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Sex of household head and trends in uptake of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine intermittent preventive treatment for malaria during pregnancy: insights from secondary data in sub-Saharan Africa.Discover social science and health · 2025Article
- Women's participation in household decision-making: Qualitative findings from the Shonjibon Trial in rural Bangladesh.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
- The dose-response association between LEAP 1000 and birthweight - no clear mechanisms: a structural equation modeling approach.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Article
- Secular trends in low birth weight and child undernutrition in West Africa: evidence from complex nationwide surveys, 1985-2019.Public health nutrition · 2022Article
- Article
- Exploring a theory of change: Are increases in parental empowerment associated with healthier weight-related parenting practices?Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe burden of maternal undernutrition and low birth weight (LBW) incurs enormous economic costs due to their adverse consequences. Women's empowerment is believed to be one of the key factors for attaining maternal and child health and nutritional goals. Our objective was to investigate the association of women's empowerment with maternal undernutrition and LBW.
methodsWe used nationally representative data from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey for 2011 and 2014. We analysed 27357 women and 9234 mother-child pairs. A women's empowerment index (WEI) was constructed using principal component analysis with five groups of indicators: a) education, b) access to socio-familial decision making, c) economic contribution and access to economic decision making, d) attitudes towards domestic violence and e) mobility. We estimated odds ratios as the measure of association between the WEI and the outcome measures using generalized estimating equations to account for the cluster level correlation.
resultsThe overall prevalence of maternal undernutrition was 20% and LBW was 18%. The WEI was significantly associated with both maternal undernutrition and LBW with a dose-response relationship. The adjusted odds of having a LBW baby was 32% [AOR (95% CI): 0.68 (0.57, 0.82)] lower in the highest quartile of the WEI relative to the lowest quartile. Household wealth significantly modified the effect of the WEI on maternal nutrition; in the highest wealth quintile, the odds of maternal undernutrition was 54% [AOR (95% CI): 0.46 (0.33, 0.64)] lower while in the lowest wealth quintile the odds of undernutrition was only 18% [AOR (95% CI): 0.82 (0.67, 1.00)] lower comparing the highest WEI quartile with the lowest WEI quartile. However, the absolute differences in prevalence of undernutrition between the highest and lowest WEI quartiles were similar across wealth quintiles (6-8%).
conclusionsThis study used a comprehensive measure of women's empowerment and provides strong evidence that low levels of women's empowerment are associated with maternal undernutrition as well as with delivering LBW babies in Bangladesh. Therefore, policies to increase empowerment of women would contribute to improved public health.
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