Table 1 Prevalence of suspected developmental delays among Nepalese children (N = 2870).

From: Socioeconomic and education-based inequality in suspected developmental delays among Nepalese children: a subnational level assessment

Characteristics

N (%)

Prevalence of suspected developmental delays (95% CI)

p-valuea

Total

2870

34.8 (32.3–37.4)

 

Child characteristics

 Age of children

  36–47 months

1468 (51.1)

42.2 (38.8–45.7)

 < 0.001

  48–59 months

1402 (48.9)

27.0 (23.9–30.4)

 

 Sex of children

  Boys

1487 (51.8)

35.2 (32.0–38.6)

0.703

  Girls

1384 (48.2)

34.4 (31.0–37.9)

 

 Birth order

  1

713 (25.5)

24.7 (20.4–29.6)

 < 0.001

  2–4

1871 (66.8)

38.2 (35.0–41.4)

 

  ≥ 5

215 (7.7)

42.4 (34.0–51.3)

 

 Stunting

  No

1818 (64.3)

30.2 (27.3–33.3)

 < 0.001

  Yes

1008 (35.7)

42.3 (38.4–46.4)

 

 Early childhood education

  Attending

1782 (97.3)

25.2 (22.7–27.8)

 < 0.001

  Not attending

50 (2.7)

54.9 (37.8–70.9)

 

Parent’s characteristics

 Mother’s age

  15–24 years

746 (26.5)

32.9 (28.8–37.3)

0.494

  25–34 years

1641 (58.4)

35.2 (31.9–38.7)

 

  35 years and above

425 (15.1)

37.4 (31.1–44.2)

 

 Mother’s education

  No education

816 (28.4)

49.1 (44.4–53.8)

 < 0.001

  Basic education

959 (33.4)

35.9 (31.9–40.2)

 

  Secondary education

905 (31.5)

25.0 (21.8–28.5)

 

  Higher education

190 (6.6)

14.5 (9.2–22.0)

 

 Functional difficulties of mother

  Yes

29 (1.0)

24.6 (13.9–39.8)

0.168

  No

2781 (99.0)

35.1 (32.5–37.7)

 

Household-level characteristics

 Household socio-economic status

  Poorest

652 (22.7)

46.9 (41.7–52.1)

 < 0.001

  Poorer

583 (20.3)

40.0 (34.0–46.3)

 

  Middle class

590 (20.6)

33.0 (28.7–37.7)

 

  Richer

573 (20.0)

31.8 (26.0–38.3)

 

  Richest

472 (16.4)

17.5 (12.9–23.4)

 

 Household size

  1–4 persons

1487 (54.2)

34.9 (31.8–38.2)

0.520

  5–6 persons

817 (29.8)

33.2 (29.1–37.6)

 

  > 6 persons

441 (16.1)

37.3 (31.4–43.6)

 

 Iodine level in the salt consumed

  None (0 ppm)

151 (5.5)

32.4 (23.7–42.4)

0.804

  Inadequate (< 15 ppm)

506 (18.5)

36.1 (30.0–42.7)

 

  Adequate (≥ 15 ppm)

2073 (75.9)

34.6 (31.7–37.6)

 

Community-level characteristics

 Place of residence

  Urban area

1875 (65.3)

32.1 (28.8–35.5)

0.002

  Rural area

995 (34.7)

40.0 (36.3–43.7)

 

Province

 Province 1

465 (16.2)

23.1 (17.7–29.4)

 < 0.001

 Madhesh Province

707 (24.6)

44.2 (38.2–50.3)

 

 Bagmati Province

513 (17.9)

26.1 (21.6–31.2)

 

 Gandaki Province

195 (6.8)

20.5 (15.6–26.5)

 

 Lumbini Province

515 (18.0)

40.0 (33.5–46.8)

 

 Karnali Province

189 (6.6)

45.0 (37.4–52.8)

 

 Sudhurpashchim Province

285 (9.9)

40.1 (34.3–46.1)

 
  1. CI confidence interval, ppm parts per million.
  2. ap-values were obtained through Chi-square test.
  3. Significant values are in bold.