Prevalence and associated factors of stunting and thinness among adolescent students in Finote Selam Town, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Undernutrition among adolescents is a major public health problem in developing nations including Ethiopia. Adolescents need to have good-quantity and good-quality nutrients to cope with this rapid growth and other health risks which increase nutritional demand. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of stunting and thinness among school adolescents in Finote Selam Town, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods A school-based cross-sectional study among adolescent students aged 10–19 in public schools was carried out in Finote Selam Town from February 5 to March 27, 2018. A total of 397 school adolescents were included in this study. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were employed to select study subjects. Pretested structured questionnaires were used to collect the data. Data were entered using Epi info version 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 20 and WHO AnthroPlus software. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with stunting and thinness. Crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% level significance were used to measure the strength of association, and statistical significance was declared at a P value less than 0.05. Results The prevalence of stunting and thinness among school adolescents was 21.8% and 16.9%, respectively. About 9.7% of school adolescents experienced both stunting and thinness. Being male (P = 0.031), coming from rural area (P = 0.046), having a family monthly income of less than $28.37 (P = 0.044) and having less than four dietary diversity (P = 0.021) were significantly associated with stunting. Early adolescent stage (P = 0.034), being male adolescent students (P = 0.37), having a family monthly income of less than $28.37 (P = 0.016), having a family monthly income between $28.37 and $56.74 (P = 0.021) (35.25 Birr = 1 USD) and using well water (P = 0.045) were significantly associated with thinness. Conclusion Undernutrition was a predominant problem in the study area. Sex, age, place of residence, dietary diversity, sources of drinking water and family monthly income were important factors associated with stunting and thinness among the respondents. Strategies to improve the nutritional status of adolescent students should be given much attention.

Exploring dietary diversity, nutritional status of adolescents among farm households in Nigeria: do higher commercialization levels translate to better nutrition?

“…This may be because of the fact that most of the income generated from the farm business was ploughed back to the farm business with little consideration for the provision and consumption of nutritious and high-quality diets for household members (especially young children and adolescents). This result is contrary to the previous study that reported that increased household income is more likely to result in higher purchasing power for high-quality food for the adolescents (Darmon and Drewnowski, 2008; Kebede et al , 2021). From the results of the analysis in Table 6, a unit increase in household food expenditure reduces the likelihood of stunted adolescents among cassava farm households by <0.01.…”

“…This finding was contrary to the study conducted in Ethiopia which reported seemingly high stunting prevalence (23.8%) among girls than adolescent boys (21.9%) (Jikamo and Samuel, 2019). The adolescents' stunting prevalence in this study is higher than other studies reported in Northern and Northwest Ethiopia among adolescent students with 37.7% and 20.5% stunting prevalence among boys and 21.2% and 26.8% stunting among adolescent girls, respectively (Melaku et al, 2015;Kebede et al, 2021). Other studies with lower (medium level; <20%) stunting prevalence include Daboné et al (2013), Gebreyohannes (2014) and Woday et al (2017).…”

“…This result corroborated the findings in Table 4 where thinness in adolescent boys was found to be higher (21.2%) than that of adolescent girls (9.3%) of cassava farming households. Other studies also reported higher prevalence of thinness in adolescent boys than that of girls (Gebreyohannes et al, 2014;Melaku et al, 2015;Kebede et al, 2021).…”

“…studies also reported higher prevalence of thinness in adolescent boys than that of girls (Gebreyohannes et al, 2014;Melaku et al, 2015;Kebede et al, 2021). Moreover, a unit rise in cassava household's farm income and nonfarm income increases the probability of stunted adolescents.…”

“…Previous studies in Africa, such as Northern Ethiopia found high level of stunting (26.5%) and thinness (58.3%) among adolescent students (Melaku et al , 2015). More so, a study in Northwest Ethiopia also reported 21.8% stunting and 16.9% thinness among school-aged adolescents (Kebede et al , 2021). However, some studies also reported nutrition outcomes and dietary diversity (DD) of both under-five children and women of rural farm households in Nigeria (Lawal and Samuel, 2010; Babatunde et al , 2011; Ukegbu and Ogu, 2017; Ogunnaike et al , 2020; Otekunrin et al , 2022).…”