Abstract
Anaemia and underweight or overweight/obesity are major public health problems driving maternal and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries. While the burden of these conditions is recognised, the evidence for the co-occurrence of these conditions is fragmented and mixed, especially at the individual level. Further, many studies have focused on families and communities. The different pathways for the occurrence of anaemia and BMI challenges indicate that an individual can potentially live with both conditions and suffer the complications. This study examined the prevalence and factors associated with the co-occurrence of anaemia and BMI challenges among a cohort of women in Ghana. Data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey were used. The sample size was 4 337 women aged 15–49 years who were not pregnant during the survey. Women who suffered simultaneously from underweight or overweight/obesity and anaemia were considered as having the double burden of malnutrition. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and logistic regression in STATA. One-fifth of the participants were overweight (21%), 4% were underweight and about one-tenth were obese (12%). The prevalence of anaemia was 41%. Only one in three women had normal weight and was not anaemic (34%). About 14% of the women experienced the double burden of malnutrition. Being overweight and anaemic (57%) was the most common form of this double burden. Age, marital status, parity, and wealth were t key risk factors associated with the double burden of malnutrition. The findings from this study show that women experience multiple nutritional challenges concurrently and that only a few women had healthy nutritional status. This information is particularly important and can be introduced into health education programmes to help address misconceptions about body weight and health.
Highlights
There is a gap in research on the prevalence of and the factors that influence the within-person double burden of malnutrition among African women
Our study suggests that Ghanaian women simultaneously experience underweight or overweight/obesity and anaemia and that only a few have a healthy nutritional status
Marital status, parity and wealth were the key risk factors associated with the double burden of malnutrition
Summary
Cross-sectional data were retrieved from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, a nationally representative household survey of Ghana. The 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey used a two-stage sampling approach. The first stage selected 427 enumeration areas identified from the 2010 Ghana Population and Housing Census [25]. About 30 households were randomly selected from the enumeration areas. The survey collected data on the fertility, socioeconomic status, health status and nutritional status of participating households and individuals using the Demographic and Health Survey Phase VI core questionnaire. All women aged 15–49 from the selected households were eligible to be interviewed. The sample was limited to 4 337 women who had complete data for all the variables of interest and were not pregnant at the time of the survey
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