ArticleBMJ open2024
Socioeconomic inequalities in underweight children: a cross-sectional analysis of trends in West Africa over two decades.
Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Socioeconomic inequality in undernutrition among late female adolescent in sub-Saharan African countries: a decomposition analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Residence-based disparities of composite index of anthropometric failures in East African under five children; multivariate decomposition analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo study trends in socioeconomic inequalities in underweight children in West Africa, and specifically to analyse the concentration index of underweight inequalities and measure inequalities in the risk of being malnourished by household wealth index.
designCross-sectional study.
settingThe study used 50 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys conducted between 1999 and 2020 across 14 countries by the DHS and UNICEF.
participantsThe study included 481 349 children under the age of 5 years. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The analysis used three variables: weight-for-age index, household wealth index and household residence. The inequality concentration index for underweight children and the relative risk of being underweight between 2000 and 2020 were calculated.
resultsThe prevalence of underweight in West Africa showed a downward trend from 2000 to 2020. Nonetheless, the prevalence of underweight children under 5 years of age is still very high in West Africa compared with other sub-Saharan African countries, and the sustainable development objective is yet to be achieved. There was a wide disparity among countries and significant socioeconomic inequalities in underweight children within countries. The proportions of underweight children were concentrated in poor households in all countries in West Africa and over all periods. Socioeconomic inequalities in underweight children were more significant in countries where the prevalence of underweight was low. These inequalities were more pronounced in urban areas in West Africa from 2000 to 2020. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: There is a high concentration of socioeconomic inequalities in underweight children in disadvantaged households in West Africa.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.