Table 4 Adjusted odds ratio estimates on the association between maternal heights and double burden of malnutrition (DBM) among mother–child pairs in Ethiopia, EDHS (2000–2016)

Individual-level characteristics

Maternal stature

Normal/tall (≥ 155.0 cm)

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

Short (145 to 154.9 cm)

1.08 (0.87–1.33)

1.26 (0.99–1.60)

1.35 (1.03–1.78)*

1.37 (1.04–1.80)*

Very short (< 145.0 cm)

4.05 (2.64–6.19)**

4.03 (2.41–6.72)**

2.94 (1.49–5.77)*

2.95 (1.50–5.80)*

Child factors

 Sex

  Male

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

  Female

0.81 (0.66–0.98)*

0.83 (0.66–1.04)

0.78 (0.61–1.02)

0.77 (0.60–1.01)

 Age (months)

  < 6

0.98 (0.65–1.47)

0.86 (0.52–1.42)

0.66 (0.37–1.18)

0.59 (0.32–1.05)

  6–11

0.91 (0.61–1.35)

0.82 (0.50–1.33)

0.61 (0.35–1.06)

0.53 (0.30–0.95)*

  12–23

0.81 (0.59–1.09)

0.74 (0.50–1.09)

0.63 (0.41–0.99)*

0.55 (0.34–0.88)*

  24–35

1.33 (1.05–1.69)*

1.27 (0.93–1.73)

1.08 (0.75–1.54)

0.95 (0.65–1.40)

  36–59

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

 Birth order

  First born

0.81 (0.58–1.13)

0.81 (0.52–1.25)

0.65 (0.37–1.14)

0.64 (0.37–1.11)

  2–4

0.91 (0.71–1.18)

0.84 (0.62–1.14)

0.77 (0.53–1.01)

0.75 (0.52–1.08)

  5 or higher

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

 Birth interval

  < 33 months

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

  ≥ 33 months

1.46 (1.13–1.88)*

1.10 (0.66–1.82)

1.17 (0.68–2.00)

1.19 (0.69–2.04)

 Currently breast-feeding

  Yes

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

  No

1.89 (1.52–2.35)**

1.64 (1.22–2.19)*

1.56 (1.12–2.19)*

1.56 (1.12–2.19)*

 Full vaccination

  Yes

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

  No

0.62 (0.50–0.77)**

1.63 (1.22–2.19)*

0.99 (0.72–1.36)

1.03 (0.75–1.42)

 Diarrhea

  Yes

0.90 (0.68–1.20)

0.87 (0.64–1.20)

0.78 (0.53–1.16)

0.79 (0.53–1.18)

  No

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

 Fever

  Yes

0.85 (0.65–1.10)

0.98 (0.74–1.31)

1.07 (0.76–1.52)

1.09 (0.76–1.54)

  No

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

 ARI

  Yes

1.45 (0.91–2.33)

1.17 (0.68–2.04)

1.22 (0.69–2.17)

1.29 (0.72–2.29)

  No

Ref

Ref

Ref

Ref

Maternal factors

 Mother’s age

  < 18

0.29 (0.03–2.34)

0.69 (0.08–5.60)

0.76 (0.09–6.23)

  18–24

0.41 (0.22–0.78)*

0.47 (0.23–0.97)*

0.49 (0.24–1.02)

  25–34

0.75 (0.45–1.24)

0.91 (0.53–1.57)

0.94 (0.54–1.61)

  ≥ 35

Ref

Ref

Ref

 Mother’s education

  No education

Ref

Ref

Ref

  Primary and above

1.27 (0.96–1.69)

1.01 (0.72–1.40)

0.98 (0.70–1.38)

 Mother’s occupation

  Not working

Ref

Ref

Ref

  Non-agriculture

1.13 (0.87–1.45)

0.99 (0.74–1.34)

0.97 (0.72–1.31)

  Agriculture

0.40 (0.27–0.58)**

0.58 (0.37–0.92)*

0.61 (0.39–0.97)*

 Antenatal care (ANC) visit

  None

Ref

Ref

Ref

  1–3

1.42 (1.05–1.93)*

1.22 (0.85–1.75)

1.12 (0.78–1.62)

  4–7

1.56 (1.13–2.17)*

1.24 (0.85–1.83)

1.10 (0.74–1.63)

  8+

1.85 (1.15–3.00)*

1.21 (0.68–2.16)

1.08 (0.60–1.94)

 Listening to radio

  Yes

Ref

Ref

Ref

  Not at all

0.87 (0.67–1.13)

1.05 (0.78–1.41)

0.97 (0.72–1.33)

 Watching television

  Yes

Ref

Ref

Ref

  Not at all

0.63 (0.47–0.85)*

1.22 (0.83–1.78)

1.26 (0.84–1.87)

Household factors

 Wealth index

  Poor

Ref

Ref

  Middle

0.53 (0.30–0.94)*

0.55 (0.32–0.98)*

 Rich

1.15 (0.75–1.74)

1.08 (0.71–1.67)

 Household size

  1–4

0.99 (0.70–1.39)

0.95 (0.67–1.34)

  ≥ 5

Ref

Ref

 Type of cooking fuel

  Clean fuels

Ref

Ref

  Solid fuels

0.92 (0.53–1.59)

1.06 (0.61–1.86)

 Toilet facility

  Improved

Ref

Ref

  Unimproved

0.92 (0.64–1.32)

0.95 (0.65–1.37)

  Open defecation

0.65 (0.41–1.02)

0.68 (0.43–1.07)

 Source of drinking water

  Improved

Ref

Ref

  Unimproved

0.75 (0.55–1.03)

0.80 (0.57–1.12)

 Household flooring

  Improved

1.87 (1.23–2.84)*

1.60 (1.04–2.47)*

  Unimproved

Ref

Ref

 Time to get a water source

  On-premise

Ref

Ref

  ≤ 30 min

0.59 (0.39–0.89)*

0.71 (0.46–1.08)

  31–60 min

0.57 (0.35–0.96)*

0.70 (0.42–1.18)

  > 60 min

0.72 (0.44–1.19)

0.88 (0.53–1.48)

Community-level characteristics

Residence

 Urban

1.75 (1.11–2.77)*

 Rural

Ref

Region

 Pastoralist

Ref

 Agrarian

1.11 (0.77–1.59)

 City administration

1.18 (0.74–1.87)

Survey year

 EDHS-2000

0.81 (0.63–1.93)

 EDHS-2005

0.78 (0.51–1.21)

 EDHS-2011

0.67 (0.48–0.93)*

 EDHS-2016

Ref

Random effect

 Variance (SE)

0.5259 (0.0052)**

0.5844 (0.0068)**

0.2060 (0.0169)*

0.0629 (0.0797)*

0.04608 (0.1064)*

 Log-likelihood ratio (LL)

 − 2718.321

 − 2105.148

 − 1514.540

 − 1113.319

 − 1107.582

 Deviance

5436.642

4210.297

3029.08

2226.63

2215.16

 ICC (%)

13.78

15.08

5.89

1.87

1.38

 AIC

5440.64

4244.297

3085.08

2304.64

2303.16

 BIC

5457.30

4383.264

3305.03

2596.368

2632.29