TY - JOUR
T1 - Child marriage and its association with morbidity and mortality of under-5 years old children in Bangladesh
AU - Moyazzem Hossain, Md
AU - Abdulla, Faruq
AU - Banik, Rajon
AU - Yeasmin, Sabina
AU - Rahman, Azizur
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Hossain et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2022/2/9
Y1 - 2022/2/9
N2 - IntroductionChild marriage is a significant social and health concern in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This harmful practice violates children’s rights and continues to be widespread across developing nations like Bangladesh. This study investigated the mortality trend among Bangladeshi children and the impact of child marriage on under-5 children morbidity and mortality in Bangladesh.Methods and materialsA sample of 8,321 children under-5 years old was analyzed using bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques collected from the recent 2017–18 BDHS data. Chi-square test and logistic regression (unadjusted and adjusted) were used to determine the influence of covariates on the target variable.ResultsResults revealed that child mortality was significantly higher among children whose mothers married at an early age than their counterparts. Although the general trend in the prevalence of different childhood mortality in Bangladesh was declining gradually from 1993 to 2018, it was still high in 2018. Also, marriage after 18 years lessens likelihood of diarrhea (adjusted OR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.76–1.16) and cough (adjusted OR = 0.91; 95% CI: 0.78–1.17) among children. Furthermore, findings reveal that likelihood of different child mortality is higher among early married women.ConclusionImmediate intervention through rigorous enforcement of policies and different programs to raise the age at marriage and by lessening socioeconomic disparities can combat the prevalence of high morbidity and mortality of under-5 years old children. Findings from this study will be helpful to accelerate strategies for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to child and maternal health by 2030.
AB - IntroductionChild marriage is a significant social and health concern in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This harmful practice violates children’s rights and continues to be widespread across developing nations like Bangladesh. This study investigated the mortality trend among Bangladeshi children and the impact of child marriage on under-5 children morbidity and mortality in Bangladesh.Methods and materialsA sample of 8,321 children under-5 years old was analyzed using bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques collected from the recent 2017–18 BDHS data. Chi-square test and logistic regression (unadjusted and adjusted) were used to determine the influence of covariates on the target variable.ResultsResults revealed that child mortality was significantly higher among children whose mothers married at an early age than their counterparts. Although the general trend in the prevalence of different childhood mortality in Bangladesh was declining gradually from 1993 to 2018, it was still high in 2018. Also, marriage after 18 years lessens likelihood of diarrhea (adjusted OR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.76–1.16) and cough (adjusted OR = 0.91; 95% CI: 0.78–1.17) among children. Furthermore, findings reveal that likelihood of different child mortality is higher among early married women.ConclusionImmediate intervention through rigorous enforcement of policies and different programs to raise the age at marriage and by lessening socioeconomic disparities can combat the prevalence of high morbidity and mortality of under-5 years old children. Findings from this study will be helpful to accelerate strategies for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to child and maternal health by 2030.
KW - Marriage
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262927
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262927
M3 - Article
C2 - 35139075
AN - SCOPUS:85124297980
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 2
M1 - e0262927
ER -