Application of quantile regression to examine changes in the distribution of Height for Age (HAZ) of Indian children aged 0-36 months using four rounds of NFHS data.

Abstract

BackgroundThe prevalence of stunting among under- three Indian children though decreased, still it is considered to be alarmingly high. In most of the previous studies, traditional (linear and logistic) regression analyses were applied. They were limited to encapsulated cross-distribution variations. The objective of the current study was to examine how the different determinants were heterogeneous in various percentiles of height for age (HAZ) distribution.Methods and findingsThis article examined the change in the HAZ distribution of children and examined the relationships between the key co-variate trends and patterns in HAZ among children aged ConclusionsThe outcome of various covariates working differently across the HAZ distribution was suggested by quantile regression. The major discrepancies in different aspects were underlined by socioeconomic and demographic aspects among the Indian population. The heterogeneity of this effect was shown using quantile regression. Policymakers may choose to concentrate on the most important factors when formulating policies to lessen the prevalence of stunting in India.