Magnitude, Associated Factors and Morphological Types of Anemia Among Hospitalized 6-59 Months Age Children at Jimma Medical Center, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background- Anemia is among the major public health problem that causes significant morbidity and mortality among children around the world. Anemia in children of age 6 month to 5 year is a major health problems in most developing world countries with estimated prevalence of about 43%; As a result of anemia, a status of low brain tissue oxygenation is encountered that may cause, impairtment of mental and physical growth of children . However, in study area, there is limited information regarding the severity, morphological types and associated factors of anemia among 6-59 months hospitalized children Objective: - To determine the magnitude, associated factors and morphological types of anemia among hospitalized 6-59 months age children from June 15 to October 15, 2022 at Jimma medical center, southwest Ethiopia. Methodology- hospital-based cross- sectional study design was conducted from June 15 to October 15, 2022 at Jimma medical center, involving 383 hospitalized 6-59 months age children’s by employing consecutive convenient sampling technique. Data of socio demographic characteristics and other associated factors of the study individuals was collected using pre structured questionnaire after taking appropriate written informed consent and assent from guardian .Clinical data was collected by physical examination and from history of client by medical interns .Then 3 mL venous blood was collected and analyzed for complete blood count by 800 DHX Beckman (Danaher Corporation, united states) machine. Data was coded, cleared and entered into Epi data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression was used to identify associated factors. P-value < 0.05 was considered a statistically significant. Result:-The overall prevalence of anemia among hospitalized 6-59 months age children was 57.2% ;out of them 18.81%,30.82%and 7.57% were mild,moderate and severe anemic respectively.In present study children with malaria infection,AOR-1.15 (95% CI: 0.017, 0.781).Children with severe malnutrition, AOR- 2.046 (95% C.I: 0.306,1.366),and children with low family income, AOR=2.6(CI 0.475,0.894) were independent variable associated with anemia.Conclusion and recommendation - Anemia among study participant is found to be a sever public health problem based on this finding, More intervention is needed with giving health education on nutrition and child feeding