in partial fulfil]ment of the - MSpace - University of Manitoba

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4.3 ÀSSOCIATTON OF SOCIO-ECONOMiC AND HEALTH VARIÀBIES WITH
ANTHROPOMETRI C I NDi CATORS
The Stepwise Regression Analysis was performed with 73 independent
variables together with three indicators (wt/rit, Ht/Age and llt/Age) of
the dependent variable (nutritional status) which were considered as
study variables. The variables that met the 0.15 significance leveL
were included in the regression model and the variables that fitted best
were seLected based on the R-square value. The 1.5 significance leve1
r+as an arbitrary cut-off point chosen by the computer program commonly
used in this type of analysis. The association of regressor variables
on Wt/Ht, ut/Àge and l,it/Age are given in Tables 11, .12, and '13, respect
i veIy.
I'lhether or not a chi Id recei ves addi t i onal f ood, whether or not a
child is breast fed, diarrheal rate, ownership of livestock, size of
land for food crops cultivation and age of the child were observed to be
the best fits of the regression model and had significant impacts on all
the three anthropometric indicators (Table 11, 12, and 13). The variables:
whether or not a child is vaccinated, total number of live births
and foods avoided during pregnancy (not eating eggs) were among the best
f its of the regression models f or wt/Age and I,¡L/HL, Fit/Age and wL/HL,
and for wt/Àge and Ht/Àge, respectively (tables 11 , 12, and 1 3 ) .
Frequency of additional food and pourtry raising also were among the
best fits of the models for gt/Age and wt/Ht, respectiveLy (rables 11
and 12). Other variables included in the initial regression analysis,
including income, household size, number of under 5 year old chirdren
and education or knowledge of the mother which other investigators have
reported as factors closely related to nutritional status, were not