title: Determinants of infant nutritional status in Dabat district, North Gondar, Ethiopia: A case control study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Malnutrition is the top cause of global burden of disease, disability and mortality among infants. Over two-thirds of deaths of children globally occur during the first year of life (infancy). Malnutrition among infants is substantially high in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess determinants of infant nutritional status.
  
  
  METHODS
  A community based nested case-control study was conducted from February to June 2013 in Dabat district. A total of 80 cases and 320 controls (1:4 ratios) were studied. Relevant data was extracted from the community based survey data set. Anthroplus software was used to identify cases and controls. Determinants of infant nutritional status were identified using multivariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the total of 80 cases and 320 controls, more than half (52.5%) of the cases and the controls (53.8%) were males and females, respectively. Breast Feeding (BF) was started immediately after birth in only 43.8% of the cases. Nearly 94% of the mothers of the cases had no breast feeding information as part of Ante Natal Care (ANC) follow up. Maternal age (AOR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.11-0.76), having radio (AOR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.22-0.82), lack of toilet facility (AOR: 2.24; 95% CI: 1.16-4.33), deprivation of colostrum (AOR: 1.76; 95% CI: 1.01-1.06) and method of complementary feeding (AOR: 2.82; 95% CI: 1.33-5.99) were associated with wasting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has found that inappropriate infant feeding; nutritional information gap and lack of toilet facility as significant predictors of malnutrition. Hence, joint interventions, including counseling of mothers about benefits of colostrum feeding and use of appropriate feeding method, toilet utilization and mass media such as radio possession, are needed to address the problem in Dabat district.
authors.affiliation: West Gojjam Zonal Health Department, Finoteselam, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Amarech Asratie
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Wubante
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005002:Ethiopia; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000209:etiology*; D009035:Mothers; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012307:Risk Factors; D014038:Toilet Facilities