Abstract:
Background: The early age of sexual initiation contribute a lot for various risks such as mistimed pregnancy
followed by insecure termination, developing fistula and contracting sexually transmitted infections which are
currently the major public health concerns for low-income countries. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to
detect spatial clusters and identify factors associated with an early age sexual initiation of women in the
reproductive age group.
Methods: We used a population-based nationwide representative Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey
(EDHS) 2016 data.. A total of 12,033 respondents of reproductive age (15–49 years) women who had at least one
event of sexual intercourse was retrieved and included for the analysis. Spatial cluster detection and autocorrelation
analysis were also done to explore the patterns of early age sexual initiation.
Results: The median age at first sexual intercourse among respondents was 16 (±3.3) years and more than half
(66.2%) had their first sexual intercourse before the age of 18 years. The spatial variations of the age of sexual
initiation was nonrandom and clustered with a Moran’s I = 0.413 (P-value < 0.001). In addition, five significant spatial
clusters were also identified. Moreover, the probability of starting sex at an earlier age was associated with the
respondent’s residence, marital status, educational attainment and wealth index.
Conclusion: This study found a higher proportion of an early age sexual initiation of women. Respondent’s
residence, marital status, educational attainment and wealth index were significantly associated with early sexual
initiation. The SaTScan analysis identified five statistical significant spatial clusters which indicate that there were
geographical variations. Therefore, integrated interventions focusing on the identified high spot clustered areas are
recommended to reduce early age sexual initiation
