Exploring the association of anthropometric indicators for under-five children in Ethiopia

Gashu Workneh Kassie,Demeke Lakew Workie

doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7121-6

Abstract

BackgroundChild undernutrition is a global health concern. Many studies have focused on the association of childhood undernutrition indicators with their predictors. A few studies have looked at relationship between the undernutrition indicators. This study aimed at investigating the possible association structures of childhood undernutrition indicators.MethodsA log-linear model of cell counts of a three way table of stunting, wasting, and underweight was fitted based on the 2016 Ethiopia demographic health survey data. The variables of interest were generated based on the 2006 WHO Child Growth Standards as: stunted, wasted and underweight if z-scores of height-for-age, weight-for-height and weight-for age are below-2, respectively; otherwise not stunted, wasted and underweight.ResultsThis study showed that 36.34, 12.09 and 24.87% were stunted, wasted and underweight out of sampled children respectively and the prevalence of total undernutrition in children was about 45.96%.The fitted log-linear model showed that underweight was associated with both stunting (P-value< 0.001), and wasting (P-value< 0.001). There was no association between stunting and wasting (P-value = 0.999). Furthermore, the model showed that there is no a three way interaction among stunting, wasting, and underweight (P-value = 1.000).ConclusionThe authors conclude that there is lack of three way association of stunting, wasting, and underweight. This confirms that the three anthropometric indicators of children have multi-dimensional nature. Thus, the concerned body should consider the three undernutrition indicators simultaneously to estimate the actual burden of childhood undernourishment as they are not redundant of each other.

Highlights

Child undernutrition is a global health concern
Underweight is located on the boundary line and indicated that it is associated with both stunting and wasting
By excluding children with no anthropometric failure, composite index of anthropometric Failure (CIAF) is a better index for estimating prevalence of total childhood undernutrition in a population [19]

Summary

Introduction

Many studies have focused on the association of childhood undernutrition indicators with their predictors. A few studies have looked at relationship between the undernutrition indicators. This study aimed at investigating the possible association structures of childhood undernutrition indicators. Child undernutrition is a global health concern. Undernutrition affects all aspects of children’s life; its effects are not limited to physical health but extend to mental, social, and spiritual wellbeing [1]. The indicators of childhood under nutrition are stunting, wasting and underweight. Stunting refers to a child who is too short for his or her age (low height-for-age); wasting refers to a child who is too thin for his or her. The effects of childhood undernutrition are classified as short term and long-term. Mortality and morbidity are parts of short term effect as it is indicated to magnify

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Conclusion