Definition of variables used in the study
| Variables | Description |
|---|---|
| Demographic | |
| Age | Age (years and categories) at last delivery within 5 years preceding survey (<20; 20–34; ≥35) |
| Highest educational level | Highest educational attainment (no education; primary; secondary and higher) |
| Marital status | Marital status as at interview date (never married; currently married; formerly married) |
| Ethnicity | Local ethnic group (Akan; Ga/Dangme; Ewe; Guan; Mole-Dagbani; Grussi, Gruma, other) |
| Religion | Christian; Muslim; traditional/spiritualist; no religion and other |
| Employment | Employment status as at interview date (currently employed (yes or no)) |
| Wealth class status | Wealth quintiles categorised into three classes (low; middle; high)* |
| Covered by health insurance | Having a viable health insurance registration (yes or no) |
| Maternal | |
| Ever use of contraception | Use of any method of contraception at any point in time by woman (yes or no) |
| Previous birth interval | Number of years between last delivery and the preceding delivery (<2; 2–5; 5+ years) |
| Complication during previous delivery | Whether woman had any complication during previous deliveries before last delivery (DHS uses caesarian section as proxy) (yes or no) |
| Birth order | The order in which the index child, whose delivery data are used for our study, was born: 1; 2–3; 4–5; 6+ |
| Gestational age at first ANC | Months pregnant at first ANC visit categorised into three trimesters of pregnancy |
| Number of times attended ANC | Number of times woman attended ANC during last pregnancy (1; 2–3; 4+; don't know) |
| Community and contextual | |
| Region | Where in the 10 regions of Ghana woman lives (Western; Central; Greater Accra; Volta; Eastern ;Ashanti; Brong Ahafo; Northern; Upper East and West) |
| Residence | Whether woman's residence is rural or urban |
| Type of city | Woman's residence described as capital or large city, small city; a town or country side |
| Spouse's highest educational level | Highest educational level of spouse (no education; primary; secondary and higher) |
| Who has final say on woman's health | Whose decision on woman's health is paramount (respondent alone; respondent and partner; husband/partner/someone else alone) |
| Period of delivery | Whether last delivery was before or during the period of free cost of delivery, that is, before or after 2005 |
*Wealth measured using information on household ownership of consumer items, ranging from a television to a bicycle or car, as well as dwelling characteristics, such as source of drinking water, sanitation facilities and type of flooring material to produce an asset index.
ANC, antenatal clinic; DHS, Demographic and Health Survey.