Abstract:
Background: Adolescence is a particularly unique period in life because it is a time of intense
physical, psychosocial, and cognitive development. Growth is faster than at any other time in
the individual’s life except infancy. There is limited information on nutritional status of
adolescent girls in Ethiopia especially in our study area.
Objective: To assess the magnitude of undernutrition and associated factors among adolescent
girls (10-19years old) in rural community of Aseko district, Arsi zone, Ethiopia from February
6-26, 2017.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted on 683 adolescent girls in
rural area of Aseko district, Eastern Arsi zone, Ethiopia. Structured questionnaires and
anthropometric measurements were used to collect data. Body Mass Index for age and height
for age was used to assess undernutrition of adolescent girls by using the new 2007 WHO
Growth Refernce. A simple random sampling technique was used to select study participants.
The data was entered into Epi-data 3.1 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Science
version 20.0 for analysis. The descriptive statistic like frequency tables was used to present the
xii
result of this study. The variable which were significantly associated with the outcome variable
in Bivariate association at p value <0.25 were considered for further multivariable analysis to
control for potential confounding. Crude and Adjusted Odd Ratios was calculated to assess the
magnitude of association between dependant and independent variable with 95% confidence
interval and the variable which shows p-value < 0.05 in multivariable analysis were considered
as statistically significant.
RESULT: The magnitude of stunting and thinness in this study were 20.2% and 14.8%
respectively. 1-2 times meat consumption per week (AOR=2.52, 95%CI: 1.04-6.11) and
feeding of meal less than 3 times per day (AOR=1.67, 95%CI: 1.107-2.61) were factors
significantly affecting low height for age and while adolescent pre-menstruation status
(AOR=1.72, 95%CI: 1.03-2.88) and monotonies diet (AOR=2.35, 95%CI: 1.08-5.10) were
factors associated with low body mass index for age of adolescent girls respectively.
CONCLUSION: Undernutrition was prevalent among adolescent girls in Aseko district.
Aseko district health office with the collaboration of others stake holders should work on the
prevention of undernutrition among adolescent girls.
