A Nutritional Status of Under Five Children in Ethiopia Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

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Ahmed Abdulahi
Sakineh Shab-Bidar
Shahabeddin Rezaei
Kurosh Djafarian

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Undernutrition is the outcome of insufficientfood intake and recurrent infectious diseases. The baseline levels ofundernutrition remain so high that Ethiopia still needs to continuesubstantial investment in nutrition.Therefore, the aim of this studywas to obtain estimates of over-time trends in the prevalence ofundernutrition in Ethiopia and to determine risk factors forundernutrition among children of under five years of age.METHODS: Cross-sectional studies published in English from1997 to 2015 focusing the prevalence of stunting, wasting andunderweight in children aged 0-5 years (n = 39,585) in Ethiopiawere included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Wesearched in PubMed and Scopus databases and other articlesmanually. Two review authors independently selected studies forinclusion, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias in theincluded studies. The protocol number of the study is PROSPERO2015: CRD42015027940.RESULTS: Eighteen studies were included and the overall pooledprevalence estimate of stunting, underweight and wasting was42.0% (95% CI: 37.0, 46.0), 33.0 % (95% CI: 27.0, 39.0) and 15.0%(95% CI: 12.0, 19.0), respectively. The sensitivity analyses resultedin the prevalence of stunting, 40% (95% CI: 32.0, 48.0;I2=99.19%), prevalence of underweight, 33%(95% CI: 24.0, 42.0;I 2 =99.34%) and wasting rate equal to 19%(95% CI: 14.0, 24.0;I2=99.19%). Cumulative analysis revealed a stabilization trend ofstunting and underweight (1996-2010) followed by an upwardtrend (2010-2014). Child age, child sex, complementary food, poordietary diversity, diarrheal diseases, maternal education, maternalheight, residential area and socio- economic status were significantrisk factors for undernutrition.CONCLUSION: The result of the meta-analysis of thesobservational studies revealed that the trend of undernutrition inEthiopia indicates that there is an increment of chronicmalnutrition cases in recent years, and the prevalence ofundernutrition remains extremely high. Thus, the implementationof policies to reverse child undernutrition should get maximumemphasis.

Article Details

Section
Review
Author Biographies

Ahmed Abdulahi, InternationalCampus (TUMS-IC), Tehran, Iran

Department of Community Nutrition,
School of Nutritional Sciences and
Dietetics, Tehran University of
Medical Sciences

Sakineh Shab-Bidar, Tehran University ofMedical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Department of Community Nutrition,
School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics

Shahabeddin Rezaei, Tehran University ofMedical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Department of Community Nutrition,
School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics

Kurosh Djafarian, Tehran University ofMedical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Department of Clinical Nutrition,
School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics