ArticleNutrients2026
Effects of Maternal Empowerment on Childhood Undernutrition in Bangladesh: Findings from Nationally Representative Surveys.
Article in Nutrients, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesEmpowered mothers are more likely to adopt recommended childcare practices, thereby contributing to reduced childhood undernutrition. However, the magnitude of the association between maternal empowerment and childhood undernutrition in Bangladesh has not been comprehensively assessed. This study aims to address this research gap.
methodsThe Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2017-18 and BDHS 2022 served as data sources. Maternal empowerment was assessed across three domains, e.g., attitude to violence, social independence, and decision making, using the Survey-based Women's Empowerment (SWPER) index. The undernutrition status of children was assessed through z-score based indicators, including stunting (height-for-age z-score < -2 SD), wasting (weight-for-height z-score < -2 SD), and underweight (weight-for-age < -2 SD). Children with at least two and any of these undernutrition conditions were categorized as multiple undernutrition and any undernutrition, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression models were utilized to observe the survey-specific and pooled association between maternal empowerment and childhood undernutrition.
resultsThe analysis includes 11,647 mother-child pairs. The association between maternal empowerment and childhood undernutrition was consistent across individual surveys and the pooled sample, although the significance level varied by empowerment domains and undernutrition categories. Maternal social independence was found to be a significant protective factor against both multiple and any childhood undernutrition status in individual surveys and the pooled sample. For example, in the pooled sample, high maternal empowerment in the social independence domain was significantly associated with 18% (AOR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.69, 0.98;
conclusionsImproving the status of maternal social independence can potentially result in reduced childhood undernutrition. The scope remains to cascade the benefits of the other two maternal empowerment domains, e.g., attitude to violence and decision making, to child nutrition in Bangladesh.
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.