Factors affecting nutritional status in female adults in Dhaka slums, Bangladesh

Abstract

This study looks at women from the slums in Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh, where 54 percent of women's BMI was less than 18.5. Fifty percent of the Dhaka slum population lived below the poverty line. Logistic regression showed that women with income above 1,500 taka per capita were 1.78 times more likely to have a higher BMI (odds ratio 1.7863; CI = 0.671-3.639). Women with their own savings were 1.89 times more likely to have higher BMI (odds ratio 1.879; CI = 0.01163-1.6431). Women were 4.5 times more likely to have a higher BMI when food expenditure per capita above 559 taka per month (odds ratio 4.55; CI = 1.0302-8.0799). Women were 1.82 times more likely to have higher BMI when there was a break even situation in financial status (odds ratio 1.8212; CI = -015709-3.6285). Female headed households were 3.3 times more likely to have a higher BMI compared to women living in male headed households (odds ratio 3.2966; CI = 0.33711-6.25620). Women who work 15-23 days per month were 2.3 times more likely to have a higher BMI (odds ratio 2.33; CI = 0.1133-4.5600). Women who are the budget manager are 1.12 times more likely to have a higher BMI (odds ratio 1.125; CI = 0.29296-2.0966). Where as a husband who beats his wife is 1.83 more likely to have a poorer BMI (odds ratio 1.8312; CI = -3.72596-0.17508). Women who have no marriage documents and women who take days off due to illness less than 11 days per month were more likely to have a poorer BMI (odds ratio 0.5567; CI = -0.049339-2.8379; odds ratio 0.7569; CI = 0.183167-2.0002).Women's nutritional status and well being can influence their ability to provide for themselves and their families and the demonstration of a relationship between measures of women's autonomy and control in the household and women's nutritional status is an important indication of the importance of these sociological constructs. Women's participation in work outside the home may be a factor increasing their autonomy. The identification of relationships between women's autonomy and control and their physical well being should provide further leverage for policy change that will enable women to escape some traditional roles and to contribute as more equal partners with men in the future of Bangladeshi society.

Under Weightiness among Ever-married Non-pregnant Women in Bangladesh: A Population Based Study

“…Because of poor people cannot buy expensive nutritious food items like meat, milk, fruits regularly. Several recent studies in Bangladesh [25][26][27][34][35] and worldwide [14,15,36] also found the similar results. Importantly, national income contributed to increase literacy rate, dietary food intake, preserve food, etc.…”

“…Such conditions could be linked to different environmental, behavioral and individual risk factors [13]. The BMI depends on many factors like age, education, occupation, household economic status, food habits and sedentary lifestyles [6,[14][15]. The underweight are susceptible to poor maternal and infant health as well as childhood growth problems and compromised mental development [16].…”

Socio-economic and demographic factors influencing nutritional status among early childbearing young mothers in Bangladesh

“…A large population study conducted in India reported a relatively similar finding where 31.2 % of their women were underweight, with only 9.4 % in overweight and 2.6 % in obese categories [17]. One local study that focused on women living in the slum areas in Bangladesh capital (Dhaka) reported that more than half (54 %) of these women were underweight, and concluded that the most likely contributing factor would be extreme poverty [26]. Among the underweight mothers (BMI ≤ 18.5), most of them had mild CED (grade I), more than one-fourth had moderate CED (grade II), and a relatively high percentage (11.9 %) suffered severe CED (grade III).…”

Pathways of the association between maternal employment and weight status among women and children: Qualitative findings from Guatemala

“…Early empirical work had evaluated the extent to which maternal employment was associated with indicators of undernutrition among women (e.g., underweight (body mass index [BMI] <18.5) and children (e.g., underweight [weight-for-age z-score [WAZ] < −2]). Some of these findings reported a decreased risk of undernutrition, while others indicated an increased risk of undernutrition or report null results (Bamji & Thimayamma, 2000;Brown, Yohannes, & Webb, 1994;De Groote, Kennedy, Payongayong, & Haddad, 1994;Engle, 1991Engle, , 1993Engle & Pedersen, 1989;Lamontagne, Engle, & Zeitlin, 1998;Leslie, 1988;Popkin, 1980Popkin, , 1983Pryer, Rogers, & Rahman, 2003;Toyama, Wakai, Nakamura, & Arifin, 2001;Tucker & Sanjur, 1988). Results also suggested heterogeneity in the association by occupation type (e.g., agriculturebased employment) and number of hours worked (Engle, 1991;Engle & Pedersen, 1989;Glick & Sahn, 1998;Leslie, 1988).…”