Spatial Variation of Child Stunting and Maternal Malnutrition after Controlling for Known Risk Factors in a Drought-Prone Rural Community in Southern Ethiopia

Background: Globally, understanding spatial analysis of malnutrition is increasingly recognized. However, our knowledge on spatial clustering of malnutrition after controlling for known risk factors of malnutrition such as wealth status, food insecurity, altitude and maternal characteristics is limi...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mehretu Belayneh, Eskindir Loha, Bernt Lindtjørn
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Ubiquity Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/84a1b587fa8540e7b7dd54d9c7a76ae0
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:84a1b587fa8540e7b7dd54d9c7a76ae0
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:84a1b587fa8540e7b7dd54d9c7a76ae02021-12-02T14:55:19ZSpatial Variation of Child Stunting and Maternal Malnutrition after Controlling for Known Risk Factors in a Drought-Prone Rural Community in Southern Ethiopia2214-999610.5334/aogh.3286https://doaj.org/article/84a1b587fa8540e7b7dd54d9c7a76ae02021-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/3286https://doaj.org/toc/2214-9996Background: Globally, understanding spatial analysis of malnutrition is increasingly recognized. However, our knowledge on spatial clustering of malnutrition after controlling for known risk factors of malnutrition such as wealth status, food insecurity, altitude and maternal characteristics is limited from Ethiopia. Previous studies from southern Ethiopia have shown seasonal patterns of malnutrition, yet they did not evaluate spatial clustering of malnutrition. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess whether child stunting and maternal malnutrition were spatially clustered in drought-prone areas after controlling for previously known risk factors of malnutrition. Methods: We used a community-based cohort study design for a one-year study period. We used SaTScan software to identify high rates of child stunting and maternal malnutrition clustering. The outcome based was the presence or absence of stunting and maternal malnutrition ([BMI] <18.5 kg/m2). We controlled for previously known predictors of child stunting and maternal malnutrition to evaluate the presence of clustering. We did a logistic regression model with declaring data to be time-series using Stata version 15 for further evaluation of the predictors of spatial clustering. Results: The crude analysis of SaTScan showed that there were areas (clusters) with a higher risk of stunting and maternal malnutrition than in the underlying at risk populations. Stunted children within an identified spatial cluster were more likely to be from poor households, had younger and illiterate mothers, and often the mothers were farmers and housewives. Children identified within the most likely clusters were 1.6 times more at risk of stunting in the unadjusted analysis. Similarly, mothers within the clusters were 2.4 times more at risk of malnutrition in the unadjusted analysis. However, after adjusting for known risk factors such as wealth status, household food insecurity, altitude, maternal age, maternal education, and maternal occupation with SaTScan analysis, we show that child stunting and maternal malnutrition were not spatially clustered. Conclusion: The observed spatial clustering of child stunting and maternal malnutrition before controlling for known risk factors for child stunting and maternal malnutrition could be due to non-random distribution of risk factors such as poverty and maternal characteristics. Moreover, our results indicated the need for geographically targeted nutritional interventions in a drought-prone area.Mehretu BelaynehEskindir LohaBernt LindtjørnUbiquity PressarticleInfectious and parasitic diseasesRC109-216Public aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENAnnals of Global Health, Vol 87, Iss 1 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Infectious and parasitic diseases
RC109-216
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
spellingShingle Infectious and parasitic diseases
RC109-216
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Mehretu Belayneh
Eskindir Loha
Bernt Lindtjørn
Spatial Variation of Child Stunting and Maternal Malnutrition after Controlling for Known Risk Factors in a Drought-Prone Rural Community in Southern Ethiopia
description Background: Globally, understanding spatial analysis of malnutrition is increasingly recognized. However, our knowledge on spatial clustering of malnutrition after controlling for known risk factors of malnutrition such as wealth status, food insecurity, altitude and maternal characteristics is limited from Ethiopia. Previous studies from southern Ethiopia have shown seasonal patterns of malnutrition, yet they did not evaluate spatial clustering of malnutrition. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess whether child stunting and maternal malnutrition were spatially clustered in drought-prone areas after controlling for previously known risk factors of malnutrition. Methods: We used a community-based cohort study design for a one-year study period. We used SaTScan software to identify high rates of child stunting and maternal malnutrition clustering. The outcome based was the presence or absence of stunting and maternal malnutrition ([BMI] <18.5 kg/m2). We controlled for previously known predictors of child stunting and maternal malnutrition to evaluate the presence of clustering. We did a logistic regression model with declaring data to be time-series using Stata version 15 for further evaluation of the predictors of spatial clustering. Results: The crude analysis of SaTScan showed that there were areas (clusters) with a higher risk of stunting and maternal malnutrition than in the underlying at risk populations. Stunted children within an identified spatial cluster were more likely to be from poor households, had younger and illiterate mothers, and often the mothers were farmers and housewives. Children identified within the most likely clusters were 1.6 times more at risk of stunting in the unadjusted analysis. Similarly, mothers within the clusters were 2.4 times more at risk of malnutrition in the unadjusted analysis. However, after adjusting for known risk factors such as wealth status, household food insecurity, altitude, maternal age, maternal education, and maternal occupation with SaTScan analysis, we show that child stunting and maternal malnutrition were not spatially clustered. Conclusion: The observed spatial clustering of child stunting and maternal malnutrition before controlling for known risk factors for child stunting and maternal malnutrition could be due to non-random distribution of risk factors such as poverty and maternal characteristics. Moreover, our results indicated the need for geographically targeted nutritional interventions in a drought-prone area.
format article
author Mehretu Belayneh
Eskindir Loha
Bernt Lindtjørn
author_facet Mehretu Belayneh
Eskindir Loha
Bernt Lindtjørn
author_sort Mehretu Belayneh
title Spatial Variation of Child Stunting and Maternal Malnutrition after Controlling for Known Risk Factors in a Drought-Prone Rural Community in Southern Ethiopia
title_short Spatial Variation of Child Stunting and Maternal Malnutrition after Controlling for Known Risk Factors in a Drought-Prone Rural Community in Southern Ethiopia
title_full Spatial Variation of Child Stunting and Maternal Malnutrition after Controlling for Known Risk Factors in a Drought-Prone Rural Community in Southern Ethiopia
title_fullStr Spatial Variation of Child Stunting and Maternal Malnutrition after Controlling for Known Risk Factors in a Drought-Prone Rural Community in Southern Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Spatial Variation of Child Stunting and Maternal Malnutrition after Controlling for Known Risk Factors in a Drought-Prone Rural Community in Southern Ethiopia
title_sort spatial variation of child stunting and maternal malnutrition after controlling for known risk factors in a drought-prone rural community in southern ethiopia
publisher Ubiquity Press
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/84a1b587fa8540e7b7dd54d9c7a76ae0
work_keys_str_mv AT mehretubelayneh spatialvariationofchildstuntingandmaternalmalnutritionaftercontrollingforknownriskfactorsinadroughtproneruralcommunityinsouthernethiopia
AT eskindirloha spatialvariationofchildstuntingandmaternalmalnutritionaftercontrollingforknownriskfactorsinadroughtproneruralcommunityinsouthernethiopia
AT berntlindtjørn spatialvariationofchildstuntingandmaternalmalnutritionaftercontrollingforknownriskfactorsinadroughtproneruralcommunityinsouthernethiopia
_version_ 1718389333679931392