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Many researchers use data from Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HCES) to estimate individual food and nutrient intake when individual dietary data are not available. They assume that food is allocated within households according to members’ proportional energy requirements relative to an adult male (called an adult male equivalent, or AME). This study sought to validate AME-based estimates of individual consumption of calories, protein, iron, and animal source protein (ASP) across 10 age-sex categories, using data from Bangladesh and Ethiopia containing both household and individual-level consumption data. The study also assessed the accuracy of adjusting for meal partakers and physical activity levels (PAL), and compared energy-weighted AMEs to nutrient-specific AME predictions. Energy AME-based predictions of nutrient intake were generally accurate within ten percentage points of individually reported intakes, but were less accurate for infants 6–23 months and children in Bangladesh than for other demographic groups. AME predictions were more accurate: (1) in Ethiopia than in Bangladesh, (2) for predicting intake of the three nutrients rather than ASP, (3) for estimating nutrient intake rather than adequacy, (4) using energy-weighted AMEs rather than nutrient specific weights, and (5) using moderate PAL for youth and adults rather than high PAL. Adjusting for meal partakers did not consistently improve the AME-based predictions. Energy based AME estimates from household data can produce a useful proxy of average intake for certain population subgroups, however individually measured dietary assessment remains the best approach to identify groups at risk of nutrient inadequacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using panel data from Ethiopia covering 1994–1997, we estimate the impact of prime age adult mortality on household composition, household expenditures and dietary diversity. We employed propensity score matching with a difference-in-difference estimator to control for endogeneity of mortality to the outcomes of interest. Households losing a productive adult did not replenish the lost labor, regardless of economic status, sex or status of the deceased adult. With the exception of non-poor households, adult mortality resulted in increased dependency ratios, but did not adversely affect households’ expenditure patterns (total, food and non-food expenditures) regardless of the sex and position of the deceased and the economic status of the households. Although food expenditures were protected, a decline in dietary diversity, especially among the poorest households, reflected increased nutrition insecurity associated with adult mortality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aim: To investigate the impact of prime age adult mortality (PAM) on child mortality and change annualized height-for-age Z-score (HAZ score) of children below eight years of age. The term "prime age" refers to adults between 15 to 54 years of age. Data: Four rounds of Ethiopia Rural Household Survey (ERHS) panel data set (1994-1997). Methods: This paper employed propensity score matching (PSM) with a difference in difference (DID) estimator to control for endogeneity of PAM to child survival and growth. Results: Bereavement (child living in a household with PAM) increased the probability of child mortality but did not significantly affect linear growth, conditional on survival. Bereavement increased the probability of death (but not growth) for both boys and girls, but girls fared worse than boys. Impact of bereavement on child survival but not linear growth was mediated through the relationship of the child to the household head. Becoming bereaved had a significant impact on the mortality probabilities of children only in the poorest tertile. Poorest surviving bereaved children grew half a standard deviation slower than their matched non-bereaved counterparts in the same economic group. The gender and position of the deceased did not affect the mortality and growth of bereaved children. Conclusion: Preventing PAM itself is an important policy strategy to improve children's health and longevity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]