2,227 research outputs found
Birth registration and child undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa
The database comprises data on malnutrition and birth registration rates in 33 sub-Saharan African Countries as retrieved by DHS (http://www.dhsprogram.com) and MICS (http://www.childinfo.org/mics.html) reports.
The study protocol includes detailed information on data selection and statistical analyses
Birth registration and child undernutrition in sub-saharan Africa
Objective: In many countries of the world millions of people are not registered at birth. However, in order to assess children’s nutritional status it is necessary to have an exact knowledge of their age. In the present paper we discuss the effects of insufficient or imprecise age data on estimates of undernutrition prevalence.
Design: Birth registration rates and levels of stunting, underweight and wasting were retrieved from Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and Demographic and Health Surveys of thirty-seven sub-Saharan African countries, considering the subdivision in wealth quintiles. The composition of the cross-sectional sample used for nutritional evaluation was analysed using a permutation test. Logistic regression was applied to analyse the relationship between birth registration and undernutrition. The 95 % probability intervals and Student’s t test were used to evaluate the effect of age bias and error.
Results: Heterogeneous sampling designs were detected among countries, with different percentages of children selected for anthropometry. Further, registered children were slightly more represented within samples used for nutritional analysis than in the total sample. A negative relationship between birth registration and undernutrition was recognized, with registered children showing a better nutritional status than unregistered ones, even within each wealth quintile. The over- or underestimation of undernutrition in the case of systematic over- or underestimation of age, respectively, the latter being more probable, was quantified up to 28 %. Age imprecision was shown to slightly overestimate undernutrition.
Conclusions: Selection bias towards registered children and underestimation of children’s age can lead to an underestimation of the prevalence of undernutrition
Galactosylated Prodrugs: A Strategy to Improve the Profile of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
Patterns of Hand Variation – New Data on a Sardinian Sample
This study is an analysis of the patterns of variation of the human hand, particularly the metric characters of palm,
fingers and distal phalanges. Anthropometric measurements were performed on 146 Sardinian men and women, aged
21 to 31 years. The data were analyzed by inferential statistics (paired Student’s t test, analysis of variance), and Principal
Components Analysis. The results indicate that size factors are the principal source of variation. A residual adimensional
component of variability is related to diversification between the fingers as a whole and the distal phalanges,
and between the thumb and the other fingers. Sexual dimorphism is evident. Men present greater dimensions and
greater relative length of the thumb with respect to the other fingers than women
- …