Abstract:
Under nutrition amongadolescents is amajor public health problem
in Ethiopia and its causes are under investigated. Therefore, this
study aimed to assess the prevalence of stunting and its determinants
among adolescent girls in Dabat district. A total of 1556
adolescent girls were included in the study. The WHO’s Anthroplus
software was used to generate the height for age z-scores.
Variables having a p-value<0.2 in the simple logistic regression
were entered into multiple logistic regression and a p-value < 0.05
were considered statistically significant. About 47.4%(95%CI; 45.0,
49.6%) of adolescent girls were stunted. Being in the early
(AOR = 0.027, 95%CI: 0.08, 0.09) and middle age (AOR = 0.21, 95%
CI: 0.06, 0.71) were less likely to be stunted compared with the late
adolescent. The odds of stunting were found to be higher among
adolescent of rural area (AOR = 1.45; 95%CI: 1.01, 2.10) and from
household food in-secured (AOR = 1.33; 95%CI: 1.02, 1.73)families.
Higher numbers of adolescent girls are stunted in Dabat district,
suggesting severe public health importance of the problem. Age,
residence and food security were associated with adolescent stunting.
Thus, improving food security strategies targeting rural and food
insecure households are recommended.
Abbreviations: AOR= Adjusted Odd Ratio,CI= Confidence Interval,
COR= Crude Odd Ratio, ENSSPI=Establishing Nutrition Surveillance
System and Piloting Interventions HAZ=Height for Age,
HDSS=Health and Demographic Surveillance System,
HFSS=Household Food Security Status, INDEPTH=International
Network of Demographic Evaluation of Population and Their
Health, IQR=Inter Quartile Range, NNP=National Nutrition Program,
NSHFP=National School Health and Feeding Program,
SPSS=Statically Package for Social Science, WHO= World Health
Organization.
