Assessment of trends and determinants of under-five mortality among children born to older women: Evidence from Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys

IntroductionMortality has long been used as an indicator of the level of socio-economic development of a country. Global attention has been drawn to under-five mortality through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The burden of under-five mortality of children is still not fairly divided. Two regions account for around 80% of under-five deaths among children: sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Ethiopia is one of six nations that account for half of the worlds under-five mortality. MethodsThe Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) from the years 2000, 2005, 2011, and 2016 provided nationally representative cross-sectional data. Six thousand one hundred nighty nine (6,199) children born to older women within the five years prior to the study formed the data. Home interviews were used to gather demographic data, such as mother and child characteristics, socioeconomic factors, and environmental variables. Frequencies were computed to characterize the study participants Multiple-level binary regression analysis was utilized to get the Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). ResultThe absolute number of under five deaths is 128/1000 live births in the year 2000 which reduce to 56/1000 live births in 2016. This study identified factors contributing for under-five mortality among children of women aged 35 to 49 years old. Sex of the child (female_ 0.65 (0.53, 0.79)), late age at first birth, 31 to 4o years at first birth 0.34 (0.11, 0.98), family size, having a family size of 6 to 10 0.18 (0.14, 0.24), longer birth interval, greater than 3 years 0.35 (0.26, 0.47) and ANC visits 1 to 3 ANC vests 0.65 (0.5, 0.84) lowered the odds of under-five mortality among children of relatively elders. On the other hand, Women aged 35 to 49 years who gave a twin Birth 6.15 (3.94, 9.6)), those with number of births in the last five years having 4 children (2.64 (1.15, 6.06)), those with number of children ever born, having 9 or above children 3.79 (2.1, 6.84), those who gave birth at late age the index child, mother gave birth of the index child at late age (45 to 49) 2.13 (1.55, 2.93) had higher odds for their children experiencing child death before they celebrated their fifth birthday. ConclusionThe absolute number of under five deaths of older women is 128/1000 live births in the year 2000 which reduce to 56/1000 live births in 2016.Female children, children born from first from elder mothers, those children residing am family with large size, children born with longer birth interval and children for whom their mothers received ANC visits were found to Have lower odds of mortality.