Concurrent anemia and stunting in young children: prevalence, dietary and non-dietary associated factors

• Published in: Nutrition journal 2019-02, Vol.18 (1), p.10-10, Article 10
• Main Authors: Mohammed, Shimels Hussien, Larijani, Bagher, Esmaillzadeh, Ahmad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Analysis; Anemia; Anemia - epidemiology; Care and treatment; Caregivers; Child care; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Concurrent anemia and stunting; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet; Dietary Supplements; Epidemiology; Ethiopia - epidemiology; Female; Fruit; Growth Disorders - epidemiology; Health; Health surveys; Households; Humans; Infant; Infants; Iron; Legumes; Male; Malnutrition; Meat; Milk; Nutrition; Odds Ratio; Pediatric anemia; Prevalence; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Public health; Risk Factors; Rural Population; Socioeconomic Factors; Stunting; Systematic review; Vegetables; Vitamin A; Vitamin A - administration & dosage
• ISSN: 1475-2891; 1475-2891
• DOI: 10.1186/s12937-019-0436-4

The existing evidence is limited and contradicting on the co-occurrence of anemia and stunting (CAS) at individual level, despite a great overlap in their risk factors. We aimed to determine the prevalence of CAS, and the dietary and non-dietary factors associated with it, among infants and young children in Ethiopia. We used a nationally representative sample of 2902 children aged 6-23 months from the Ethiopian demographic and health survey, conducted in 2016. The study was cross-sectional in design. Samples were selected by two-stage clustering sampling method. CAS prevalence was estimated by various sociodemographic factors. To identify the dietary and non-dietary factors associated with CAS, we conducted hierarchical logistic regression analyses. The overall prevalence of CAS was 23.9%. The dietary factors found significantly linked to lower odds of CAS were use of vitamin A supplement [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.19, 95%CI = 1.06-1.33, P = 0.003], consumption of vitamin A rich fruit and vegetables (AOR = 1.15, 95%CI = 1.04-1.27, P = 0.006), meat (AOR = 1.55, 95%CI = 1.17-2.05, P = 0.002), legumes (AOR = 1.38, 95%CI = 1.05-1.81, P = 0.021), and meal frequency > 3 (AOR = 1.22, 95%CI = 1.04-1.37, P = 0.020). The non-dietary household and child factors found significantly linked to higher odds of CAS were rural residence (AOR = 1.29, 95%CI = 1.18-1.41, P