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Overweight and obesity among children under five in Ethiopia: further analysis of 2016 national demographic health survey: a case control study
Authors: Haftom Gebrehiwot Weldearegay, Tesfay Gebregzabher Gebrehiwot, Mulugeta Woldu Abrha and Afework Mulugeta
Source: BMC Research Notes , 12(716); DOI:10.1186/s13104-019-4752-8
Topic(s): Child health
Children under five
Nutrition
Obesity
Country: Africa
  Ethiopia
Published: OCT 2019
Abstract: Objective The objective of this study was to assess the determinants of overweight and obesity among children under 5 years in Ethiopia. Results Data from a total of 672 (224 cases and 448 controls) under 5 years of age children were included in the study. Urban residence (AOR?=?2.63, 95% CI 1.29, 5.34), boys (AOR?=?1.56, 95% CI 1.10, 2.22) and age of the child less than 6 months (AOR?=?3.40, 95% CI 2.05, 5.64) were the determinants for being childhood overweight and obesity. Introduction Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat which may impair health [1, 2]. A combination of childhood overweight and obesity are of the most serious public health challenges of the twenty first century [2]. The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is increasing in all countries, with the most rapid rise in low and middle-income countries with majority of overweight and obese children live in developing countries, where the rate of increase has been more than 30% higher than that of developed countries [3,4,5]. In Africa, the number of overweight and obese children has nearly doubled from 5.4 million in 1990 to 10.3 million in 2014 [6]. The occurrence of infant, childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity may be plateauing in African settings, but in absolute numbers there are more overweight and obese children living in low and middle-income countries compared to in high-income countries [5, 7]. Moreover, children with overweight and obesity suffer severe health consequences in childhood and are at high risk of becoming obese adults, resulting increased risk of non-communicable diseases and reproductive disorders later in their life [1, 4]. Many factors can be linked with overweight and obesity in children. Economic growth or socioeconomic status, maternal level of education, marital status, smoking during pregnancy, sex of the child, birth weight and the child’s birth rank, area of residence, location of residence, age of the child, BMI of parents have been found as risk factors of childhood overweight and obesity [5, 8,9,10]. In Ethiopia, a low-income country which is still scarred by childhood malnutrition, childhood obesity is not yet perceived as an emerging health issue and receives little attention. According to UNICEF 2017 annual report there is overall increment of prevalence of overweight among children from 1.7 to 3.6% in Ethiopia [11]. Therefore, within this evidence, there are incongruent results in the determinant factors of overweight and obesity among literatures in Ethiopia. This study aimed to identify the determinants of overweight and obesity among children in Ethiopia. Thus, this finding highlighted in designing effective preventive strategies to clench the rising burden of early childhood overweight and obesity and its consequential morbidity and mortality in adulthood.
Web: https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-019-4752-8#citeas