ArticleBMC public health2025
Determinants of height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) among Ethiopian children aged 0-59 months: a multilevel mixed-effects analysis.
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. 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.
- Nonlinear and sex-specific associations of maternal vitamin D in early- and mid-pregnancy with childhood growth trajectories from birth to 6 years of age: a prospective cohort study in China.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Correction: Determinants of height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) among Ethiopian children aged 0-59 months: a multilevel mixed-effects analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHeight-for-age z-score (HAZ), based on WHO Child Growth Standards, measures linear growth in children, with lower values indicating potential undernutrition. This study examines HAZ as a continuous measure to explore its proximal and distal determinants.
methodsData from 5,045 children aged 0-59 months from the 2019 Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey were used. The survey employed a stratified two-stage cluster design. A multilevel mixed-effects linear regression model was applied to estimate the associations between HAZ and various proximal (individual and household-level) and distal (community-level) factors. Proximal factors included child age, sex, early breastfeeding, maternal age, education, age at first birth, maternal literacy, delivery place, number of children under-five, household size, wealth index, media access, household head sex, cooking fuel, toilet type, and water source. Distal factors included urban/rural residence, altitude, and capital city residence. Effect sizes were reported as unstandardized beta coefficients (β) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
resultsThe mean HAZ was - 1.26 (SD = 1.47). The mean age of the children was 28.9 months, and 36.23% of mothers were literate. Child age was inversely associated with HAZ, with each additional month linked to a 0.02 unit reduction (β = -0.02; 95% CI: -0.024, -0.016; p < 0.001). Maternal age and education were positively associated with HAZ, with each additional year of maternal age linked to a 0.015 unit increase (β = 0.015; 95% CI: 0.003, 0.026; p = 0.012) and each additional year of education associated with a 0.036 unit increase (β = 0.036; 95% CI: 0.009, 0.062; p = 0.008). Higher altitude was associated with a 0.21 unit reduction in HAZ per 1000 m increase (β = -0.21; 95% CI: -0.34, -0.07; p = 0.003). Residence in the capital city was associated with a 0.388 unit increase in HAZ (β = 0.388; 95% CI: 0.093, 0.683; p = 0.01).
conclusionKey determinants of HAZ include child age, maternal age, education, altitude, and capital city residence. These findings highlight the need for multifaceted interventions to improve child linear growth. Enhancing maternal education is a crucial strategy to improve child HAZ scores in Ethiopia.
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.