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Home » Topics » Nutrition and Anthropometry » STUNTING AND CODE BOOKS FOR DHS SENEGAL FOR THE YEARS 2017, 2018, and 2019 (Height-for-age standard deviations, Stunting, Code books for Senegal for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019)
STUNTING AND CODE BOOKS FOR DHS SENEGAL FOR THE YEARS 2017, 2018, and 2019 [message #29479] Tue, 25 June 2024 09:36 Go to next message
Willis is currently offline  Willis
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Registered: June 2024
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I'm working on the analysis involving the "hw5" variable in the Demographic Household Survey of Senegal for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019 , which represents height-for-age standard deviations. My goal is to create a variable that identifies children who are stunted, defined as having a height-for-age more than two standard deviations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median.

However, I've encountered an issue where the "hw5" variable seems to be labeled with values (e.g., -125, -91, -294) instead of numerical Z-scores. There are no explicit labels in the variable summary, making it unclear how to interpret these values.

To provide some context, the dataset we are working with is from the Demographic Household Survey of Senegal for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Could anyone please provide guidance on how to decode these labeled values into numerical Z-scores? Specifically:

Is there a key or documentation that explains what each label corresponds to?
How should we map these labels to their respective numeric values for accurate analysis?
Additionally, could anyone provide the code books for the Demographic Household Surveys of Senegal for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019, or a specific link to access them?
I would greatly appreciate any help with decoding this information, as it is crucial for accurately identifying stunted children in the dataset.
Re: STUNTING AND CODE BOOKS FOR DHS SENEGAL FOR THE YEARS 2017, 2018, and 2019 [message #29494 is a reply to message #29479] Thu, 27 June 2024 14:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Janet-DHS is currently offline  Janet-DHS
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Registered: April 2022
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Following is a response from Senior DHS staff members, Tom Pullum:

The variables hw5, hw8, and hw11 in the KR files are never used and should have been dropped years ago. They are based on an old CDC standard for child anthropometry. They have been superseded by hw70, hw71, and hw72, respectively, which are based on the 2005 WHO Child Growth Standards.

All six of these variables are the usual z scores MULTIPLIED BY 100. They also include special codes with values such as 9998. If the label for hw70 is HW70, for example, then in Stata you enter "label list HW70" to get the labels for those special codes. You have to omit cases with special codes in figures and most of the analysis. The Guide to DHS Statistics explains more about anthropometry in DHS surveys.

The prefix "hw" is used in the KR file. The same variables appear with prefix "hc" in the PR file.
Re: STUNTING AND CODE BOOKS FOR DHS SENEGAL FOR THE YEARS 2017, 2018, and 2019 [message #29495 is a reply to message #29494] Thu, 27 June 2024 15:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Willis is currently offline  Willis
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Registered: June 2024
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Hello Janet_DHS

Thanks a lot, this is helpful. One more question, could you guide me on how to find the Code books for the Demographic Household Survey of Senegal for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019 specifically for the KR files.
Re: STUNTING AND CODE BOOKS FOR DHS SENEGAL FOR THE YEARS 2017, 2018, and 2019 [message #29528 is a reply to message #29495] Tue, 02 July 2024 10:33 Go to previous message
Janet-DHS is currently offline  Janet-DHS
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Registered: April 2022
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Following is a response from DHS staff member, Tom Pullum:

I believe you will be able to find files, in the same place where you accessed the data files, that give the frequency distributions for all variables. Can you look for that? Let us know if you do not find it. (I cannot easily look myself, because I have a different way of accessing the data files.)
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