Modelling the Determinants of Under-Five Child Mortality Rates Using Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Model

Abstract

An under-five childhood mortality rates in Nigeria is still high, despite efforts of government at all levels to combat the menace. This study examined some factors that significantly affect under-five child mortality. A sample of mothers with children under the age of five from Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data (NDHS, 2013 & 2018) was used to assess the effect of some selected predictor variables (or covariates) on childhood survival. Cox proportional hazards model is essentially a regression model popularly used for investigating the association between the survival time and one or more predictor variables. The results from final fitted Cox proportional hazards regression model that the covariates, contraceptive used by the mother, state of residence, birth weight of child and type of toilet facility used by the h-ousehold were found to be significantly associated with under-five survival in the North Central Region of Nigeria. All the calculations are performed using the R software for statistical analysis.