Association of Urban Slum Residency with Infant Mortality and Child Stunting in Low and Middle Income Countries

Table 1

Sample characteristics in urban slum and nonslum neighborhoods in 45 countries^a.

	Slum neighborhood; (𝑁 = 21,305)	Nonslum neighborhood; (𝑁 = 97,293)	Overall sample; (𝑁 = 118,598)
Outcomes (%)
Infant mortality	4.6	3.0	3.3
Stunting^b	36.8	24.1	26.0
Variables
Household wealth mean (SD)	−0.04 (1.9)	0.8 (2.6)	0.7 (2.5)
Household wealth category (%)
Poorest	14.9	4.4	6.0
Poorer	19.2	9.4	10.9
Middle	25.2	17.1	18.3
Richer	25.7	27.9	27.6
Richest	15.1	41.1	37.2
Maternal education (years) mean (SD)	4.3 (4.1)	7.8 (4.9)	7.3 (4.9)
Maternal education category (%)
No education	35.2	15.7	18.6
Primary	39.6	25.7	27.8
Secondary	23.3	44.8	41.5
Higher than secondary	1.9	13.8	12.0
Maternal height-for-age mean (SD)	−1.3 (1.2)	−1.1 (1.2)	−1.2 (1.2)
Antenatal care (%)
None	17.9	6.0	7.6
1–3 visits	28.0	17.5	19.0
Four or more visits	54.1	76.5	73.4
Place of delivery (%)
At home and no skilled assistance	34.4	12.0	15.4
At home with skilled assistance	4.3	3.8	3.9
At health facility	61.3	84.2	80.7
Birth order (%)
First born	23.7	31.8	30.6
2-3 born	36.0	42.1	41.1
4-5 born	21.6	16.2	17.0
6+ born	18.7	9.9	11.2
Previous birth interval (%)
<19 mths	7.3	7.1	7.1
19–35 mths	34.1	26.1	27.3
≥35 mths	34.9	35.0	35.0
Maternal age at child birth (%)
<20 years	18.1	15.2	15.6
20–24 years	29.8	31.0	30.8
25–29 years	23.2	26.6	26.1
30–34 years	16.1	16.6	16.5
≥35 years	12.9	10.7	11.0
Male child (%)	51.2	51.4	51.4
Multiple births (%)	2.3	2.2	2.2
Duration of residence (%)
<4 years	21.7	26.8	26.0
5–14 years	27.3	28.8	28.5
15 years or more	51.0	44.5	45.5
Breastfeeding (%)
Never breastfed	4.3	5.5	5.4
Early	52.9	48.4	49.1
Delayed	29.7	31.3	31.1
Unknown timing	13.1	14.7	14.5

aNote: sample sizes were unweighted. Means, SDs, and % were weighted.
^bNonslum neighborhood (𝑁 = 68,391), slum neighborhood (𝑁 = 14,754), overall sample (𝑁 = 83,145).