Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research
Height-for-age z-scores (HAZs) and stunting status (HAZ<−2) are widely used to measure child nutrition and population health. However, accurate measurement of age is nontrivial in populations with low levels of literacy and numeracy, limited use of formal birth records, and weak cultural norms su...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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International Food Policy Research Institute
2017
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148025 |
| _version_ | 1855543284837908480 |
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| author | Larsen, Anna Folke Headey, Derek D. Masters, William A. |
| author_browse | Headey, Derek D. Larsen, Anna Folke Masters, William A. |
| author_facet | Larsen, Anna Folke Headey, Derek D. Masters, William A. |
| author_sort | Larsen, Anna Folke |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Height-for-age z-scores (HAZs) and stunting status (HAZ<−2) are widely used to measure child nutrition and population health. However, accurate measurement of age is nontrivial in populations with low levels of literacy and numeracy, limited use of formal birth records, and weak cultural norms surrounding birthdays and calendar use. In this paper we use Demographic and Health Surveys data from 62 countries over the period 1990–2014 to describe two statistical artifacts indicative of misreporting of age. The first artifact consists of lower HAZs for children reported to be born earlier in each calendar year (resulting in implausibly large HAZ gaps between January- and December-born children), which is consistent with some degree of randomness in month of birth reporting. The second artifact consists of lower HAZs for children with a reported age just below a round age (and hence implausibly large HAZ gaps between children with reported ages just below and just above round ages), which is consistent with survey respondents rounding ages down more than they round ages up. Using simulations, we show how these forms of misreporting child age can replicate observed patterns in the data, and that they have small impacts on estimated rates of stunting but important implications for research that relies on birth timing to identify exposure to various risks, particularly seasonal shocks. Moreover, the misreporting we identify differs from conventional age-heaping concerns, implying that the metrics described above could constitute useful markers of measurement error in nutrition surveys. Future research should also investigate ways to reduce these errors. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace148025 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1480252025-11-06T07:26:12Z Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research Larsen, Anna Folke Headey, Derek D. Masters, William A. child development stunting measurement nutrition children Height-for-age z-scores (HAZs) and stunting status (HAZ<−2) are widely used to measure child nutrition and population health. However, accurate measurement of age is nontrivial in populations with low levels of literacy and numeracy, limited use of formal birth records, and weak cultural norms surrounding birthdays and calendar use. In this paper we use Demographic and Health Surveys data from 62 countries over the period 1990–2014 to describe two statistical artifacts indicative of misreporting of age. The first artifact consists of lower HAZs for children reported to be born earlier in each calendar year (resulting in implausibly large HAZ gaps between January- and December-born children), which is consistent with some degree of randomness in month of birth reporting. The second artifact consists of lower HAZs for children with a reported age just below a round age (and hence implausibly large HAZ gaps between children with reported ages just below and just above round ages), which is consistent with survey respondents rounding ages down more than they round ages up. Using simulations, we show how these forms of misreporting child age can replicate observed patterns in the data, and that they have small impacts on estimated rates of stunting but important implications for research that relies on birth timing to identify exposure to various risks, particularly seasonal shocks. Moreover, the misreporting we identify differs from conventional age-heaping concerns, implying that the metrics described above could constitute useful markers of measurement error in nutrition surveys. Future research should also investigate ways to reduce these errors. 2017 2024-06-21T09:23:41Z 2024-06-21T09:23:41Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148025 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150998 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150408 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Larsen, Anna Folke; Headey, Derek D.; and Masters, William A. 2017. Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1617. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148025 |
| spellingShingle | child development stunting measurement nutrition children Larsen, Anna Folke Headey, Derek D. Masters, William A. Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research |
| title | Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research |
| title_full | Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research |
| title_fullStr | Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research |
| title_short | Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research |
| title_sort | misreporting month of birth implications for nutrition research |
| topic | child development stunting measurement nutrition children |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148025 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT larsenannafolke misreportingmonthofbirthimplicationsfornutritionresearch AT headeyderekd misreportingmonthofbirthimplicationsfornutritionresearch AT masterswilliama misreportingmonthofbirthimplicationsfornutritionresearch |