Department of Family and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Hohoe, Ghana.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Hohoe, Ghana.
Nutrition. 2023 Jun;110:111996. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2023.111996. Epub 2023 Feb 9.
Childhood undernutrition continues to be a major public health problem and one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. The risk factors of child undernutrition are diverse and change with time, place, and season. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors influencing stunting and wasting among children 1 to 5 years of age in the Nkwanta South Municipality, Ghana. This was a health facility-based descriptive cross-sectional study that used a multistage sampling technique to select 240 children 1 to 5 years of age from April to June 2019. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurements. The data were analyzed using ENA software 2011, and Stata version 15. Binary logistic regression was used to find the adjusted estimates and associations between undernutrition (stunting and wasting) and the exposure variables. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant at a 95% confidence interval. The prevalence of stunting and wasting among the children was 12.5% and 27.5%, respectively. Factors influencing stunting were parents' working status, number of children in the household, child's age, birth interval, exclusive breastfeeding, child's vaccination status, and recurrent diarrhea. Furthermore, factors influencing wasting were parents' educational level, parents' working status, child's age, birth interval, exclusive breastfeeding, poor appetite, child's vaccination status, and recurrent diarrhea. The results showed a high prevalence of stunting and wasting among children 1 to 5 years in the Nkwanta South Municipality. This finding indicates the degree to which nutritional screening for children is very crucial, and thus recommends government and health authorities to adapt or promote nutrition-related interventions such as educational awareness on the utilization of family planning services for birth spacing, exclusive breastfeeding practices, and vaccination to prevent undernutrition among young children.
儿童期营养不良仍然是一个主要的公共卫生问题，也是发展中国家发病率和死亡率最常见的原因之一。儿童营养不良的危险因素多种多样，随时间、地点和季节而变化。本研究旨在评估加纳恩夸塔南地区 1 至 5 岁儿童发育迟缓症和消瘦症的流行情况及相关影响因素。这是一项基于卫生机构的描述性横断面研究，采用多阶段抽样技术从 2019 年 4 月至 6 月期间选择了 240 名 1 至 5 岁的儿童。使用结构化问卷和人体测量法收集数据。使用 ENA 软件 2011 进行数据分析，使用 Stata 版本 15 进行二元逻辑回归分析，以发现营养不足（发育迟缓症和消瘦症）与暴露变量之间的调整估计值和关联。置信区间为 95%时，P≤0.05 被认为具有统计学意义。儿童中发育迟缓症和消瘦症的患病率分别为 12.5%和 27.5%。影响发育迟缓症的因素包括父母的工作状态、家庭中儿童的数量、儿童的年龄、出生间隔、纯母乳喂养、儿童的疫苗接种状况和反复腹泻。此外，影响消瘦症的因素包括父母的教育程度、父母的工作状态、儿童的年龄、出生间隔、纯母乳喂养、食欲不振、儿童的疫苗接种状况和反复腹泻。研究结果表明，恩夸塔南地区 1 至 5 岁儿童发育迟缓症和消瘦症的患病率较高。这一发现表明，对儿童进行营养筛查的程度非常关键，因此建议政府和卫生当局采取或促进与营养有关的干预措施，如宣传计划生育服务的利用以保持出生间隔、实施纯母乳喂养以及接种疫苗，以防止幼儿期营养不良。
