The association between paternal labour migration and the growth of the left-behind children—evidence from a birth cohort in Dhanusha district, Nepal

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to determine the association between paternal labour migration and the growth of the left-behind children in Dhanusha district, Nepal, where child stunting and international labour migration are highly prevalent. METHODS: -score (HAZ). Children's body circumferences, skinfold thicknesses, body composition, tibia length and grip strength were secondary outcomes measured at 6 years. We tested (i) the overall association between paternal international migration and the growth of the left-behind child; the roles of (ii) the duration of migration (≤12 mvs >12 m) and (iii) child age (≤6 mvs 12-72 m) as moderating factors; (iv) the association between receipt of remittances from the migrant father and child growth outcomes; and (v) stratified the main analyses by child gender. We fitted mixed-effects linear regression models for longitudinal data and linear regression models for cross-sectional data, adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: Analysing across all time points, daughters of labour migrants had lower HAZ than daughters of non-migrants (-0.13, 95% CI -0.24 to -0.03), but no overall association was found in boys. The negative associations were largest at