Tebeje Desalegn Bayew, Agitew Genanew, Mengistu Netsanet Worku, Aychiluhm Setognal Birara
AGP2 CDSF, Agriteam Canada, Central and West Gondar Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia.
Department of Rural Development & Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture & Environmental Science, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
Heliyon. 2022 Oct 26;8(11):e11235. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11235. eCollection 2022 Nov.
Malnutrition among children has lifelong implications, its outcomes not only cover the whole life but also transfer from one generation to another generation. Most studies conducted before focused on undernutrition in pregnant mothers and children less than 5 years of age, whereas school-age children are often omitted from health and nutrition surveys or surveillance. In Northwest Ethiopia, particularly in the study area, the community levels nutritional status of school-age is not well studied and documented. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and determinants of the under-nutritional status of school-age children in Gondar Zuria District, Northwest Ethiopia.
A community-based cross-sectional study design was employed with 364 respondents from January to April 2020. Data entered using Epi Data software version 3.1. Standard deviation scores were obtained by the world health organization Anthro Plus software to determine the nutritional status of children, and further analysis was done by using STATA version 14 software. Adjusted odds ratio with its corresponding 95 % confidence interval was used to declare statistically significant variables.
The prevalence of overall under-nutrition was 71.98% (95%, CI: 67%-76%) from which, 43.13% (95%, CI: 38%-48%) were stunted, 40.93% (95%, CI: 35%-46%) were under-weight, and 35.44% (95%, CI: 30%-40%) were wasted. Child age [AOR = 0.30, 95% CI (0.13-0.68)], food insecurity [AOR = 2.24, 95% CI (1.03-4.83)], good knowledge of mother/care giver [AOR = 0.40, 95% CI (0.17-0.92)], having larger family size (Tzioumis and Adair, 2014; Wolde et al., 2015; Mohammed et al., 2019) [6-8] [AOR = 2.92, 95% CI (1.29-6.58)], and unprotected drinking water sources [AOR = 2.84, 95% CI (1.00-8.06)] were the predictors of under-nutrition.
According to the world health organization cut-offs, the prevalence of overall under-nutrition in the study area was very high. Child age, food insecurity, knowledge of mother/caregiver, having a larger family size, and unprotected drinking water sources were the predictors of under-nutrition. The district offices should give attention to the improvement of the food security status of the community, and give priority to the availability and accessibility of drinking water sources, particularly pipe water sources. Special attention to older age groups of children is important to control the prevalence of under-nutrition.
儿童营养不良具有终身影响，其后果不仅贯穿一生，还会代代相传。以往的大多数研究都集中在孕妇和5岁以下儿童的营养不良问题上，而学龄儿童往往被排除在健康和营养调查或监测之外。在埃塞俄比亚西北部，特别是在研究区域，学龄儿童的社区层面营养状况尚未得到充分研究和记录。因此，本研究旨在评估埃塞俄比亚西北部贡德尔祖里亚区学龄儿童营养不良状况的患病率及其决定因素。
采用基于社区的横断面研究设计，于2020年1月至4月对364名受访者进行了调查。数据使用Epi Data软件3.1版本录入。通过世界卫生组织Anthro Plus软件获得标准差分数，以确定儿童的营养状况，并使用STATA 14软件进行进一步分析。采用调整后的优势比及其相应的95%置信区间来确定具有统计学意义的变量。
总体营养不良患病率为71.98%（95%，CI：67%-76%），其中发育迟缓率为43.13%（95%，CI：38%-48%），体重不足率为40.93%（95%，CI：35%-46%），消瘦率为35.44%（95%，CI：30%-40%）。儿童年龄[AOR = 0.30，95% CI（0.13-0.68）]、粮食不安全[AOR = 2.24，95% CI（1.03-4.83）]、母亲/照顾者的良好知识[AOR = 0.40，95% CI（0.17-0.92）]、家庭规模较大（齐奥米斯和阿代尔，2014年；沃尔德等人，2015年；穆罕默德等人，2019年）[6-8][AOR = 2.92，95% CI（1.29-6.58）]以及未受保护的饮用水源[AOR = 2.84，95% CI（1.00-8.06）]是营养不良的预测因素。
根据世界卫生组织的标准，研究区域总体营养不良患病率非常高。儿童年龄大小、粮食不安全、母亲/照顾者的知识水平、家庭规模较大以及未受保护的饮用水源是营养不良的预测因素。地区办事处应关注改善社区的粮食安全状况，并优先考虑饮用水源，特别是管道水源的可及性。特别关注年龄较大的儿童群体对于控制营养不良的患病率很重要。
