Discrete-time survival analysis with survey weights: a case study of age at child death in Sierra Leone

Abstract

Abstract Background Child death rates are often regarded as reliable indicators for overall welfare of a country since they give insight of health accessibility and development. For planning and controlling purposes, it is important to understand which ages are at higher risks of experiencing child death as well as determinants thereof. Methods We used the Sierra Leone DHS 2019 data which was collected using two stage sampling methods. Data collection involved interviewing women aged from 15–49 to obtain information about children they had in the past up to 2019. Age at death of child was modelled using discrete-time survival analysis with a logit link at the same time applying survey weights. The analysis also sought to estimate the determinants of child death (under-five mortality). The baseline hazard was modelled with a polynomial function. Results Results showed that children from rural areas had significantly lower odds of dying compared with those from urban areas (odds ratio (OR) = 0.861, p-value = 0.0003). Children of mothers who were currently using contraceptives, and those whose mothers had been using since their last birth were at higher odds of child death compared to children whose mothers had never used contraceptives before (currently using: OR = 1.118, p-value = = 40: OR = 2.895, p-value = < .0001 compared to mothers in their 15-19 years). Conclusion The study provides evidence that residing in urban areas, marital union of the mother, children having no health insurance, use of contraceptives by mother, older ages of the mother and no health insurance significantly increase the odds of child death. This points out to a possible need for improved health infrastructure to be made available to citizens in all places of delivery and more awareness on pregnancy related complications.

Keywords

• Discrete-time-to-event
• Child mortality
• OR-Odds Ratios