Maternal health status and household food security on determining childhood anemia in Bangladesh -a nationwide cross-sectional study
Ali, Masum ; Amin, Ruhul ; Jarl, Johan LU
; Chisholm, Nick
and Saha, Sanjib
LU
(2021)
In BMC Public Health
21(1).
- Abstract
- Background: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of household food security on childhood anemia in
Bangladesh while controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors.
Methods: We used nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) 2011 data for this
study, the only existing survey including anemia information and household food security. The sample included
2171 children aged 6–59 months and their mothers. Differences between socioeconomic and demographic
variables were analyzed using Chi-square test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were
performed to estimate the effects of different socioeconomic and demographic factors on childhood anemia. We
also... (More) - Background: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of household food security on childhood anemia in
Bangladesh while controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors.
Methods: We used nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) 2011 data for this
study, the only existing survey including anemia information and household food security. The sample included
2171 children aged 6–59 months and their mothers. Differences between socioeconomic and demographic
variables were analyzed using Chi-square test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were
performed to estimate the effects of different socioeconomic and demographic factors on childhood anemia. We
also performed mediation analysis to examine the direct and indirect effect of household food security on
childhood anemia.
Results: In Bangladesh, 53% male (95% CI: 50–56) and 51% female (95% CI: 47–54) children aged 6–59 months
were anemic in 2011. The food insecure households have 1.20 times odds (95% CI: 0.97–1.48) of having anemic
children comparing to food secure households in the unadjusted model. On the other hand, anemic mothers have
2 times odds (95% CI: 1.67–2.44) of having anemic children comparing to non-anemic mothers. However,
household food security is no longer significantly associated with childhood anemia in the adjusted model while
mothers’ anemia remained a significant factor (OR 1.87: 95% CI: 1.53–2.29). Age of children is the highest associated
factor, and the odds are 4.89 (95% CI: 3.21–7.45) for 6–12 months old children comparing to 49–59 months in the
adjusted model. Stunting and household wealth are also a significant factor for childhood anemia. Although food
security has no significant direct effect on childhood anemia, maternal anemia and childhood stunting mediated
that relationship.
Conclusions: Future public health policies need to focus on improving mothers’ health with focusing on
household food security to eliminate childhood anemia.
Keywords: anemia, Child health, Maternal health, Demography and health survey, Bangladesh (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/0395fd1a-7b04-4201-a936-e224b82c8821
- author
- Ali, Masum
; Amin, Ruhul
; Jarl, Johan
LU
; Chisholm, Nick
and Saha, Sanjib
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-08-21
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- BMC Public Health
- volume
- 21
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 1581
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85113196242
- pmid:34418981
- ISSN
- 1471-2458
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12889-021-11581-3
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0395fd1a-7b04-4201-a936-e224b82c8821
- date added to LUP
- 2021-08-23 14:08:33
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 03:25:58
@article{0395fd1a-7b04-4201-a936-e224b82c8821,
abstract = {{Background: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of household food security on childhood anemia in<br/>Bangladesh while controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors.<br/>Methods: We used nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) 2011 data for this<br/>study, the only existing survey including anemia information and household food security. The sample included<br/>2171 children aged 6–59 months and their mothers. Differences between socioeconomic and demographic<br/>variables were analyzed using Chi-square test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were<br/>performed to estimate the effects of different socioeconomic and demographic factors on childhood anemia. We<br/>also performed mediation analysis to examine the direct and indirect effect of household food security on<br/>childhood anemia.<br/>Results: In Bangladesh, 53% male (95% CI: 50–56) and 51% female (95% CI: 47–54) children aged 6–59 months<br/>were anemic in 2011. The food insecure households have 1.20 times odds (95% CI: 0.97–1.48) of having anemic<br/>children comparing to food secure households in the unadjusted model. On the other hand, anemic mothers have<br/>2 times odds (95% CI: 1.67–2.44) of having anemic children comparing to non-anemic mothers. However,<br/>household food security is no longer significantly associated with childhood anemia in the adjusted model while<br/>mothers’ anemia remained a significant factor (OR 1.87: 95% CI: 1.53–2.29). Age of children is the highest associated<br/>factor, and the odds are 4.89 (95% CI: 3.21–7.45) for 6–12 months old children comparing to 49–59 months in the<br/>adjusted model. Stunting and household wealth are also a significant factor for childhood anemia. Although food<br/>security has no significant direct effect on childhood anemia, maternal anemia and childhood stunting mediated<br/>that relationship.<br/>Conclusions: Future public health policies need to focus on improving mothers’ health with focusing on<br/>household food security to eliminate childhood anemia.<br/>Keywords: anemia, Child health, Maternal health, Demography and health survey, Bangladesh}},
author = {{Ali, Masum and Amin, Ruhul and Jarl, Johan and Chisholm, Nick and Saha, Sanjib}},
issn = {{1471-2458}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{08}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{BMC Public Health}},
title = {{Maternal health status and household food security on determining childhood anemia in Bangladesh -a nationwide cross-sectional study}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11581-3}},
doi = {{10.1186/s12889-021-11581-3}},
volume = {{21}},
year = {{2021}},
}