Six in ten adolescent boys in Ethiopia are thin, a multilevel analysis of Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (2016) |
Authors: |
Melkamu Aderajew Zemene, Edgeit Abebe Zewde and Nahom Worku Teshager |
Source: |
Nutrire, Volume 47, issue 13; DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/s41110-022-00164-w |
Topic(s): |
Men's health Nutrition Youth
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Country: |
Africa
Ethiopia
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Published: |
JUN 2022 |
Abstract: |
Background:
Adolescence is a distinct period in human life by which a child matures to adulthood. Despite the high prevalence, adolescent undernutrition in low and middle countries lacks the attention it deserves. Undernutrition among adolescent boys in developing countries is overlooked. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the magnitude and associated factors of thinness among adolescent boys in Ethiopia.
Methods:
A secondary data analysis was conducted from Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS 2016). Descriptive analysis to assess the prevalence and multilevel logistic regression analysis was computed to identify the factors associated with thinness among adolescent boys. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and likelihood ratio (LR) test were used to assess the presence of the clustering effect, and deviance was used for model comparison. Statistical significance with 95% CI was declared at p-value?0.05, and the analysis was carried out on weighted data. Multicollinearity was checked using the variance inflation factor.
Results:
A total weighted sample of 2784 adolescent boys were included for this study. The magnitude of thinness among adolescent boys was found to be 58.5% (95% CI; 56.6, 60.3). Age of the adolescent (AOR?=?0.61; 95% CI: 0.53, 0.67), age of head of the household (AOR?=?0.98; 95% CI: 0.96, 0.99), had no education (AOR?=?1.94; 95% CI: 1.32, 3.81), and had primary education (AOR?=?1.55; 95% CI: 1.26, 2.25) were significant associated factors with thinness at individual level, whereas being from rural residence (AOR?=?1.84; 95% CI: 1.12, 3.00), Tigray (AOR?=?3.02; 95% CI: 1.63, 5.60), Afar (AOR?=?2.26; 95% CI: 1.05, 4.88)), Amhara (AOR?=?1.92; 95% CI: 1.02, 3.61), and Somali (AOR?=?3.34; 95% CI: 1.62, 6.86) region had higher odds of thinness at community level.
Conclusion:
Six in ten adolescent boys were found to be thin. Age of the adolescent, age of head of the household, educational status, place of residence, and region were statistically significant factors of thinness. Therefore, nutritional intervention programs in Ethiopia should give emphasis to adolescent boys based on the identified factors. Besides, regions identified with higher odds of thinness should be prioritized for nutritional interventions. |
Web: |
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41110-022-00164-w |
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