Type | Journal Article - The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene |
Title | Childhood malnutrition in Egypt using geoadditive Gaussian and latent variable models |
Author(s) | |
Volume | 82 |
Issue | 4 |
Publication (Day/Month/Year) | 2010 |
Page numbers | 653-663 |
URL | http://www.ajtmh.org/content/82/4/653.full |
Abstract | Major progress has been made over the last 30 years in reducing the prevalence of malnutrition amongst children less than 5 years of age in developing countries. However, approximately 27% of children under the age of 5 in these countries are still malnourished. This work focuses on the childhood malnutrition in one of the biggest developing countries, Egypt. This study examined the association between bio-demographic and socioeconomic determinants and the malnutrition problem in children less than 5 years of age using the 2003 Demographic and Health survey data for Egypt. In the first step, we use separate geoadditive Gaussian models with the continuous response variables stunting (height-for-age), underweight (weight-for-age), and wasting (weight-for-height) as indicators of nutritional status in our case study. In a second step, based on the results of the first step, we apply the geoadditive Gaussian latent variable model for continuous indicators in which the 3 measurements of the malnutrition status of children are assumed as indicators for the latent variable “nutritional status” |