Department of Statistics, College of Natural and Computational Science, Samara University, Samara, Ethiopia.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Front Public Health. 2024 Oct 9;12:1436683. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1436683. eCollection 2024.
Undernutrition persists as a critical issue in developing countries like Ethiopia due to poor feeding practices for infants and young children. The impact of dietary diversity on children's health in Ethiopia remains unclear, necessitating further investigation to develop effective prevention strategies.
To examine the association between minimum dietary diversity and undernutrition among children aged 6-23 months in Ethiopia.
Data from the 2019 Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey, including 1,501 women with children aged 6-23 months, were analyzed using STATA version 17 software. Child stunting, wasting, and underweight were assessed using Z-scores. Dietary diversity was measured using minimum dietary diversity. Multilevel logistic regression analysis determined associations, presenting results as crude odds ratios (COR) and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Overall, 10.99% of children had adequate minimum dietary diversity, with Addis Ababa (44.57%) and Somalia (1.47%) showing the highest and lowest prevalences, respectively. The highest stunting prevalence was in the Amhara region (45.86%), while Addis Ababa had the lowest (9.78%). Wasting was lowest in Addis Ababa (1.09%) and highest in Tigray (17.07%). Underweight prevalence ranged from 2.17% in Addis Ababa to 33.33% in Tigray. Children with adequate minimum dietary diversity (MDD) had significantly lower odds of stunting (AOR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.45, 0.96), underweight (AOR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.27, 0.99), and wasting (AOR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.17, 0.97) compared to those who had inadequate minimum dietary diversity (MDD).
This study highlights the association between minimum dietary diversity and stunting, wasting, and underweight among Ethiopian children aged 6-23 months. Urgent nutrition-specific interventions are needed, particularly in regions with high undernutrition rates and low dietary diversity. Targeted interventions focusing on promoting diverse and nutritious diets for children, along with improving access to essential healthcare services, are imperative to mitigate the burden of undernutrition and ensure the well-being of Ethiopia's youngest population and reinforcing existing programs is crucial to address this public health issue effectively.
由于婴儿和幼儿喂养习惯不良，营养不良在埃塞俄比亚等发展中国家仍然是一个严重的问题。饮食多样性对埃塞俄比亚儿童健康的影响尚不清楚，因此需要进一步研究以制定有效的预防策略。
研究埃塞俄比亚 6-23 个月儿童最低饮食多样性与营养不良之间的关系。
使用 STATA 版本 17 软件对 2019 年埃塞俄比亚微型人口和健康调查的数据进行了分析，共纳入了 1501 名 6-23 个月儿童的母亲。采用 Z 分数评估儿童发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足情况。采用最低饮食多样性衡量饮食多样性。多水平逻辑回归分析确定了关联，结果以粗比值比（COR）和调整比值比（AOR）及 95%置信区间（CI）表示。
总体而言，有 10.99%的儿童最低饮食多样性充足，其中亚的斯亚贝巴（44.57%）和索马里（1.47%）的比例最高和最低。发育迟缓的最高患病率出现在阿姆哈拉地区（45.86%），而亚的斯亚贝巴的患病率最低（9.78%）。消瘦的患病率最低的是亚的斯亚贝巴（1.09%），最高的是提格雷（17.07%）。体重不足的患病率从亚的斯亚贝巴的 2.17%到提格雷的 33.33%不等。饮食多样性充足的儿童发育迟缓（AOR=0.68，95%CI=0.45，0.96）、体重不足（AOR=0.51，95%CI=0.27，0.99）和消瘦（AOR=0.40，95%CI=0.17，0.97）的可能性明显低于饮食多样性不足的儿童。
本研究强调了埃塞俄比亚 6-23 个月儿童最低饮食多样性与发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足之间的关系。需要进行紧急的营养特定干预，特别是在营养不足率高和饮食多样性低的地区。针对促进儿童多样化和营养饮食以及改善基本医疗保健服务获取的有针对性的干预措施，对于减轻营养不良负担和确保埃塞俄比亚最年轻人口的福祉至关重要。加强现有的方案对于有效解决这一公共卫生问题至关重要。
