Prevalence and associated factors of stunting and thinness among adolescent Somalian refugee girls living in eastern Somali refugee camps, Somali regional state, Southeast Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is a critical time of life stage with a continuum of physical, cognitive, behavioral and psychosocial changes. It is also a period of physical growth, reproductive maturation and cognitive transformations with the highest nutrient requirements. Among the macronutrient deficiencies, stunting and thinness are the most common nutritional problems in many parts of the world but the highest burden is in developing countries with the highest number of adolescents and the displaced population. Overall, there is a scarcity of studies on refugee adolescent girls stunting, thinness, and contributing factors. Therefore, this study aimed to fill this identified gap. Method: Cross-sectional study design was employed. A total of 423 adolescent refugee girls were selected by using simple random sampling technique. A structured & pre-tested questionnaire was used after translating into the Somali language to collect the data. The physical measurement of the height and the weight were done as per the standard. Descriptive statistics were employed. Variables were considered for multivariable logistic regression if a P-value was ≤0.2 during univariate logistic regression. The odds ratio with a 95% CI was calculated and a P-value of ≤0.05 was considered to declare the statistical significance of variables after fitting into the multivariable logistic regression. Result: A total of 415 adolescent girls was included in the study with a response rate of 98.1%. The overall prevalence of stunting and thinness was 9.7% (95% CI: 7.0, 12.3), and 15.2% (95% CI: 11.8, 18.9) respectively. The older adolescent girls were 2 (AOR: 2.10, 95% CI: 1.12, 3.93) times more likely to develop stunting as compared to younger adolescents. The pre-menarcheal adolescent girls were 64% (AOR: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.75) less likely to be thin as compared to post-menarche. Conclusion: The prevalence of stunting and thinness among adolescent refugee girls was a low and moderate public health problem respectively. The stunting was significantly associated with the age and thinness was associated with the menarcheal status of the adolescent girls. So, stakeholders should enable intervention to encourage and increase the intake of calorie-dense food adapted to adolescent's girl's age and menarcheal status.