Anemia and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Damot Sore District, Wolaita Zone, South Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundAnemia affects a significant part of the population in nearly every country in the globe. Iron requirements are greatest at ages 6–23 months when growth is extremely rapid and critically essential in critical times of life. Even though infants and toddlers are highly at risk, they are not considered as separate populations in the estimation of anemia. Despite this, the prevalence of anemia among under 24 months of age is still at its highest point of severity to be a public health problem in Ethiopia. There is no study that documented the magnitude of the problem and associated factors in the study area. The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of anemia and to identify associated factors among children 6–23 months of age.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 485 children of Damot Sore, South Ethiopia from March to April 2017. Data on socio-demographic, dietary, blood samples for hemoglobin level and malaria infection were collected. Both descriptive and bivariate analyses were done and all variables having a p-value of 0.25 were selected for multivariable analyses. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to isolate independent predictors of anemia at a p-value less than 0.05. A principal component analysis was used to generate household wealth score, dietary diversity score.ResultsOut of 522 sampled children, complete data were captured from 485 giving a response rate of 92.91%. For altitude and persons smoking in the house adjusted prevalence of anemia was 255(52.6%). The larger proportion, 128(26.4%) of children had moderate anemia. On multivariable logistic regression analyses, household food insecurity (AOR = 2.74(95% CI: 1.62–4.65)), poor dietary diversity (AOR = 2.86(95% CI: 1.73–4.7)), early or late initiation of complementary feeding (AOR = 2.0(95% CI: 1.23–3.60)), poor breastfeeding practice (AOR = 2.6(95% CI: 1.41–4.62)), and poor utilization of folic acid by mothers (AOR = 2.75(95% CI: 1.42–5.36)) were significantly associated with anemia.ConclusionPrevalence of anemia among children (6–23 months) was a severe public health problem in the study area. Most important predictors are suboptimal child feeding practices, household food insecurity, and poor diet. Multi-sectoral efforts are needed to improve health and interventions targeting nutrition security are recommended.

Spatial distribution of iron rich foods consumption and its associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Ethiopia: spatial and multilevel analysis of 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey

“…This might be due to high household wealth status could afford and access iron rich foods for their child. Food insecure and poor wealth status of the households were associated with lack of micronutrient-rich food consumption which may lead to iron deficiency anemia [31][32][33]. 189,611,571,191,345,478,254,389,591,18,200,241,455,401,354,332,368,616,344,249,348,55,617,97,351,488,544,442,547,545,300,66,136,570,627,276,449,460,128,599,620,143,334,176,38,392,205,79,542,310,283,499,178,10,267,199,<...>…”

Determinants of Anemia among Children Aged 6–59 Months in Ethiopia: Further Analysis of the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey

“…e reason for this might be poor child care practice among young mothers. Previous studies showed that poor child care practices were associated with anemia among children [12,24].…”

“…Surveys in Ethiopia reported that anemia among children is a public health problem [11,12], but studies to identify the determinants of anemia among children are limited. is analysis was therefore done to identify factors associated with anemia among children aged 6-59 months in Ethiopia using the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS) data.…”

Prevalence of Undernutrition and Anemia among Santal Adivasi Children, Birbhum District, West Bengal, India

“…In this study the count of food groups consumed the day before the interview predicted Hb levels. Equally, a study on children aged 6-23 months in South Ethiopia detected HH food insecurity, a poor dietary diversity and inadequate infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices to be significantly associated with anemia [84]. Even though the etiology of anemia is multifactorial [85], it has been established that iron deficiency is by far the most common cause of anemia [86].…”