University of Medical Sciences, Department of Community Medicine, Laje Road, PMB 536 Ondo City, Ondo 351104, Nigeria.
University of Medical Sciences, School of Public Health, PMB 536 Bolorunduro, Ondo 351104, Nigeria.
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2023 Sep 1;117(9):655-662. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/trad023.
Diarrhoea remains the foremost cause of sickness and death among children aged <5 y (under-five) in low- and middle-income countries. The WHO and UNICEF recommend that any child with diarrhoea signs be given zinc tablets as part of the treatment within 24 h. Therefore, we aimed to assess the prevalence and determinants of zinc utilisation for diarrhoea among under-five children in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018 was used for this study. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 25.0. A multilevel analysis technique employing the generalised linear mixed model was used for analysing the data of 3956 under-five children with diarrhoea.
Only 29.1% of children who experienced diarrhoea received zinc combined with other forms of treatments during the diarrhoea episode. However, mothers with a secondary or higher level of education had a 40% higher likelihood of zinc utilisation during childhood diarrhoea (AOR, 1.40; 95% CI 1.05 to 2.22). Similarly, children whose mothers were exposed to media were more likely to receive zinc during diarrhoea than those whose mothers were not (AOR, 2.50; 95% CI 1.01 to 3.87).
In this study, the prevalence of zinc use among under-five children with diarrhoea in Nigeria was low. Therefore, appropriate strategies to improve zinc utilisation are needed.
在中低收入国家，腹泻仍然是 5 岁以下儿童患病和死亡的首要原因。世界卫生组织和联合国儿童基金会建议，任何有腹泻症状的儿童都应在 24 小时内服用锌片作为治疗的一部分。因此，我们旨在评估尼日利亚五岁以下儿童腹泻中锌的使用情况及其决定因素。
本研究使用 2018 年尼日利亚人口与健康调查的数据。使用 IBM SPSS 版本 25.0 分析数据。采用广义线性混合模型的多水平分析技术，对 3956 名患有腹泻的五岁以下儿童的数据进行分析。
仅有 29.1%腹泻的儿童在腹泻期间接受了锌与其他形式的治疗联合治疗。然而，母亲受过中等或高等教育的儿童在儿童腹泻期间接受锌治疗的可能性要高出 40%（AOR，1.40；95%CI 1.05 至 2.22）。同样，接触过媒体的母亲的孩子在腹泻时更有可能接受锌治疗，而没有接触过媒体的母亲的孩子则不太可能（AOR，2.50；95%CI 1.01 至 3.87）。
在这项研究中，尼日利亚五岁以下腹泻儿童中锌的使用率较低。因此，需要采取适当的策略来提高锌的利用率。
