Is there any association between undesired children and health status of under-five children? Analysis of a nationally representative sample from Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: Child health, especially childhood mortality, is one of the critical indicators of human development. No child mortality is desirable, but it is still high in Bangladesh. We aimed to assess the effect of the child's desired status on childhood morbidity and mortality in Bangladesh. METHODS: We used the data from the nationally representative cross-sectional Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2017–18 and restricted the analyses to children born in the past five years preceding the survey. We estimated the undesired status (excess in boy, girl, both, and parity) by subtracting an ideal number of children from the total live birth. We measured childhood mortality (perinatal, early neonatal, neonatal, post-neonatal, infant, child, and under-five mortality), morbidity (fever, diarrhea, cough, and acute respiratory infectious-ARI), nutritional problems (stunting, wasting, underweight, and low birth weight), and treatments (postnatal care, treatment for fever, diarrhea/cough, and vitamin A supplementation). Finally, we utilized the chi-square test and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The prevalence of undesired children was 19.2%, 21.5%, 3.7%, and 25.4% for boys, girls, both boys and girls, and parity, respectively. Age, education, residence, division, and wealth index were significantly associated with undesired children. The prevalence of under-five mortality was 3.3% among desired children, almost double (5.4%) among undesired children. The likelihood of under-five mortality was [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 2.05, p ≤ 0.001] higher among undesired children. Despite lower under-five mortality among higher socioeconomic status, the relative contribution of undesired children to under-fiver mortality was substantial. The undesired girl children were associated with an increased likelihood of moderately wasting (aOR: 1.28, p = 0.072), severely underweight (aOR: 1.41, p = 0.066), and low birth weight (aOR: 1.50, p ≤ 0.05). Moreover, the undesired children were 19% (p ≤ 0.05) more likely to be infected with fever. The undesired children had lower treatment for diarrhea and fever/cough and were less likely to get vitamin A supplementation (aOR: 0.71, p ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The share of childhood morbidity, mortality, and malnutrition were higher among undesired children. Every child should be wanted, and no unwanted pregnancies are desirable; thereby, the government should reemphasize the proper use of family planning methods to reduce child mortality and malnutrition. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12887-022-03489-7.