Assessment of maternal age along with other risk factors for childhood disabilities: a cross-sectional study in thirty-eight countries

Childhood disability can have a negative effect on children’s general productivity and quality of life. It is a significant social and economic issue worldwide. This study’s primary goal is to examine the effect of maternal age on child disability in two groups: under-five (2 to 4 years) children and children between 5 and 17 years of age. This research utilizes the most recent multiple indicator cluster survey (MICS) datasets of thirty-eight countries surveyed between 2015 and 2024. The survey sample was chosen with two-stage stratified cluster sampling. We identified 3218 disabled children out of 51,547 observations and 72,126 disabled children out of 446,716 observations from the groups of 2 to 4 years and 5 to 17 years, respectively. The outcome variable was child disability, which was binary. The study utilized bivariate analysis (chi-square) to examine the prevalence of child disability across various countries, with a focus on maternal age. In the dataset, approximately 18.4% of children were found to be disabled among all children under 18 years of age. 7% of 2–4-year-olds and 19.75% of 5–17-year-olds had some form of disability. Compared with mothers aged 21–34 years (18.3%), mothers who gave birth at ages under 20 years and over 35 years had a greater percentage of disabled children (20.6% and 18.5%, respectively). Central Asia had the highest percentage of disability (24.0%), and Oceania and North America had 16.4% disabled children. Present findings show that, to lessen the total burden of childhood disability, maternal age at birth must be considered. Our research indicates that a mother’s optimal window for childbearing is between the ages of 20 and 34.