Chowdhury, Mohammad Rocky Khan, Khan, Mobarak Hossain, Khan, Hafiz T.A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1817-3730, Rahman, Shafiqur, Islam, Moinul and Billah, Baki (2020) Prevalence and risk factors of childhood anemia in Nepal: A multilevel analysis. Plos One, 15 (10).

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Abstract

Introduction

Anemia is a common problem in children particularly in developing countries and taking steps to tackle it is one of the major public health challenges for Nepal. The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of individual, household and community level determinants of childhood anemia in Nepal.

Methods
Data was taken from a nationally representative sample of 1,942 Nepalese children aged from 6–59 months. The Chi-square test was used to determine the bivariate relationship between the selected variables and childhood anemia and a multilevel logistic regression model with a random intercept at household and community level was used to identify important determinants of this kind of anemia.

Results
The results showed that 52.6% (95% CI: 49.8%-55.4%) of the children were anemic while 26.6% (95% CI: 24.0%-29.3%) of them were moderate to severe. The prevalence of overall
anemia was higher among children aged less than 11 months as well as in underweight children, children of underweight, anemic and uneducated mothers and those in the terrain ecological regions. Multivariable analysis showed that children aged less than 11 months, who were underweight and had anemic mothers were more likely to have moderate or severe anemia. Children in the hilly ecological region were less likely to have it compared to mountain and terrain ecological regions. Children in middle-class families and children of mothers who completed secondary education were more likely to have anemia.

Conclusion
Nepal is facing a serious public health problem due to the high prevalence of childhood anemia. This adverse situation occurs due to socio-demographic and geographical factors such as age, malnutrition status, mother’s anemia status, socio-economic status and regional variations. Prevention of childhood anemia should be given top priority in Nepal and should be considered as a major public health intervention.

Item Type:	Article
Identifier:	10.1371/journal.pone.0239409
Additional Information:	Copyright: © 2020 Chowdhury et al. Chowdhury MRK, Khan MMH, Khan HTA, Rahman MS, Islam MR, Islam MM, et al. (2020) Prevalence and risk factors of childhood anemia in Nepal: A multilevel analysis. PLoS ONE 15(10): e0239409. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239409
Subjects:	Medicine and health > Health promotion and public health Medicine and health
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Hafiz T.A. Khan
Date Deposited:	09 Oct 2020 09:55
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2024 11:46
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/7379

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