Hossain Md Moyazzem
Department of Statistics and Data Science, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 13;15(1):12747. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-98105-w.
Birth weight (BW) is a key indicator of a newborn's health, survival, and development. It is associated with the risk of childhood mortality and is also related to health, physical growth, emotional well-being, and academic success throughout both childhood and adulthood. Therefore, it is crucial to pinpoint the sociodemographic characteristics that have an impact on BW. This study aimed to explore the risk factors associated with children's low birth weight using the latest nationwide secondary data extracted from the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) 2021/22. The study included a weighted sample of 4701 children from the CDHS 2021-22 data. Multivariable simultaneous quantile regression models in a Bayesian setting were used to determine the factors associated with Cambodian children's low birth weight. The average BW is 3.064 (SD 0.483 kg) kg. It is observed that there are some outliers in the target variable and the birth weight of the child is deviated from normal distribution. Women who are young (15-17 years) for their first baby have more low BW infants overall than women who have their first babies later. For mothers aged 18-24 years, children's birth weight increases by 0.068 to 0.149 points when moving from the 10th to the 50th quantile. For overweight mothers, children's birth weight increases by 0.123 to 0.348 points when moving from the 10th to the 90th quantile. It is observed that the prevalence of smaller size of children comes from illiterate mothers and the prevalence decreases as the mother's education increases. More small children are born in rural areas than in urban areas in Cambodia. Our study findings show that the mother's poor economic status is one of the major risk factors for LBW. Moreover, the birth weights of children from the richest families in the 10th, 20th, 50th, 75th, and 90th quantiles are increased by 0.075, 0.058, 0.111, 0.114, and 0.053 points respectively. The child's sex and birth order, the mother's age at first birth, her education level and BMI, the number of ANC visits during pregnancy, drinking water sources, types of bathroom facilities, place of residence, and wealth index are all related to the child's size. Furthermore, mothers who have low education levels and grew up in low-income households require special consideration. To lessen the number of low birth weight babies, the authors suggest that the Cambodian government may prioritize food and health education in its school system. Additionally, the authors think that the policymakers will benefit from these findings in order to achieve SDG-3.
出生体重（BW）是新生儿健康、生存和发育的关键指标。它与儿童期死亡率风险相关，还与儿童期及成年期的健康、身体发育、情绪健康和学业成就有关。因此，确定影响出生体重的社会人口学特征至关重要。本研究旨在利用从2021/22年柬埔寨人口与健康调查（CDHS）中提取的最新全国性二手数据，探索与儿童低出生体重相关的风险因素。该研究纳入了CDHS 2021 - 22数据中4701名儿童的加权样本。在贝叶斯框架下使用多变量同时分位数回归模型来确定与柬埔寨儿童低出生体重相关的因素。平均出生体重为3.064（标准差0.483千克）千克。观察到目标变量存在一些异常值，且儿童的出生体重偏离正态分布。初产年龄较小（15 - 17岁）的女性总体上比晚育女性有更多低出生体重婴儿。对于18 - 24岁的母亲，当从第10分位数移动到第50分位数时，孩子的出生体重增加0.068至0.149分。对于超重母亲，当从第10分位数移动到第90分位数时，孩子的出生体重增加0.123至0.348分。观察到儿童体型较小的情况在文盲母亲中更为普遍，且随着母亲教育程度的提高患病率下降。柬埔寨农村地区出生的小孩比城市地区更多。我们的研究结果表明，母亲经济状况不佳是低出生体重的主要风险因素之一。此外，处于第10、20、50、75和90分位数的最富有家庭的孩子的出生体重分别增加0.075、0.058、0.111、0.114和0.053分。孩子的性别和出生顺序、母亲的初产年龄、教育水平和体重指数、孕期产前检查次数、饮用水源、浴室设施类型、居住地点和财富指数都与孩子的体型有关。此外，教育水平低且在低收入家庭中长大的母亲需要特别关注。为了减少低出生体重婴儿的数量，作者建议柬埔寨政府可能应在其学校系统中优先考虑食品和健康教育。此外，作者认为政策制定者将从这些研究结果中受益，以实现可持续发展目标3。
