title: Influence of childcare practices on nutritional status of Ghanaian children: a regression analysis of the Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Guided by the UNICEF framework for childcare, this study examined the association of childcare practices (CCP) with infant and young children's growth (height-for-age Z-scores, HAZ), and investigated whether care practices are more important to growth in some sociodemographic subgroups of children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Urban and rural Ghana.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study sample comprised 1187 dyads of mothers aged 15-49 years and their youngest child (aged 6-36 months).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that CCP was a significant predictor of HAZ, after controlling for covariates/confounders at child, maternal and household levels. Children with higher CCP scores had higher HAZ. A 1-unit increase in the CCP score was associated with a 0.17-unit increase in HAZ. Child's and mother's age, number of children under 5 years, place of residence, maternal weight and wealth index were also significantly associated with HAZ. Statistical interaction analyses revealed no subgroup differences in the CCP/HAZ relationship.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study found a significant, positive association between CCP and child growth, after accounting for other important determinants of child growth at maternal and household levels. This calls for research into the effects on growth of various CCP components, with longitudinal cohort study designs that can disentangle causal relationships.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway.
authors.forename: Dickson A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Amugsi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway.
authors.forename: Maurice B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Mittelmark
authors.affiliation: Nutrition Division, Economic and Social Department, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lartey
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway.
authors.forename: Dennis J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Matanda
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway.
authors.forename: Helga B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Urke
mesh_terms: D002654:Child Care / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012044:Regression Analysis