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Forum: India

Topic: NFHS-1 Weight for Age Missing for 4 States in HW File

Re: NFHS-1 Weight for Age Missing for 4 States in HW File [message #29226 is a reply to message #29214]

Mon, 13 May 2024 11:03

Bridgette-DHS
Messages: 3057
Registered: February 2013

Senior Member

Following is a response from Senior DHS Staff Member, Fred Arnold:

As indicated in the Nutrition Status of Children section (Section 10.2, page 281) of the NFHS-1 national report, anthropometric information was collected for children under four years of age. For five first stage states (Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal), only weight was measured because height measuring boards were not available at the time of the survey. The weight of each child was measured using a Salter scale, which is a hanging spring balance. For the measurement on height/length, children under two years of age were measured lying down on an adjustable measuring board, while those two years and above were measured in a standing position. For the five states mentioned above, only the weight-for-age indicator is available. Height-for-age and weight-for-height indices are not available. Height missing in the five states does not impact the calculation of weight-for-age z scores.

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Topic: BMI in PR vs IR File

Re: BMI in PR vs IR File [message #29228 is a reply to message #29218]

Mon, 13 May 2024 11:28

Bridgette-DHS
Messages: 3057
Registered: February 2013

Senior Member

Following is a response from Senior DHS Staff Member, Tom Pullum:

All of the women in the IR file are also in the PR file, and all of the men in the MR file, are also in the PR file. Height and weight are collected as part of the household survey, not as part of the individual surveys of women and men, so there are a few (usually just a few, sometimes many) additional cases in the PR file that are not in the IR or MR files. I think the decision about whether to use the PR file for the BMI scores depends on what covariates you want to include in the analysis. If you will only use household-level covariates, then use the PR file. But if you want to include variables that come only from the individual surveys, use the IR (or MR) files.

The same applies for children and Z scores (the HAZ.WZS, and WHZ). You can get them from the PR file or the KR file, with a few more cases in the PR file than in the KR file. If you want to use covariates that are specific to the child or mother, use the KR file. For covariates that are household-specific, use the PR file.

But I'd advise against switching from one file to another within the same report, because that will confuse the user. Often it will be better just to use the IR or MR or KR file.

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Current Time: Mon May 13 13:17:37 Coordinated Universal Time 2024