BACKGROUND Stunting, which describes a small height for one's age, is an indicator of chronic malnutrition. It develops mainly as a result of prolonged food deprivation or a chronic disease or illness. Unintended pregnancies and unplanned births are among the psychological factors that negatively affect the nutritional status of children. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effects of unintended pregnancies and other family and child characteristics on the nutritional status of children under 5 years old. METHODS A community-based unmatched case-control study was conducted among 302 children (151 cases and 151 controls) 6-59 months old in Wonago town, Gedeo Zone, Southern Ethiopia. The cases were stunted children and the controls were non-stunted children in the study area. The cases were randomly selected from among the stunted children, and the controls were randomly selected from among the non-stunted children. The descriptive characteristics of the respondents were compared using the chi-squared test, and a multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the effects of an unintended pregnancy on stunting, after controlling for the other variables, with a p value of 0.05. RESULTS The result revealed that unintended pregnancy is found to be among predictors of stunting where children from unintended pregnancy were about three times more likely to be stunted [AOR: 2.62, CI: (1.26, 5.45)]. The other predictors identified in this study were educational status of the father, wealth index of the household and daily meal frequency. From the finding, children from illiterate fathers [AOR: 3.43, CI: (1.04, 11.29)], children from poorer household economic status [AOR: 2.32, CI: (1.20, 4.49)] and children whom their daily meal frequency is below the recommended number of feeding [AOR: 4.50, CI: (1.31, 15.49)] were found to be more stunted. CONCLUSIONS Based on the results of this study, the children born from unintended pregnancies exhibited a significantly higher risk of stunting. Therefore, preventing unintended pregnancy could play a great role in decreasing the risk of stunting in children.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚南部五岁以下儿童营养不良的决定因素：怀孕意图重要吗？基于社区的无与伦比的病例对照研究。

背景技术发育迟缓描述了一个人的年龄很小，是慢性营养不良的指标。它的发展主要是由于长期食物不足或慢性疾病引起的。意外怀孕和计划外生育是对儿童营养状况产生负面影响的心理因素。因此，本研究旨在确定意外怀孕以及其他家庭和儿童特征对5岁以下儿童营养状况的影响。方法在埃塞俄比亚南部Gedeo区Wonago镇的302名6-59个月的儿童（151例和151例对照）中进行了一项基于社区的无与伦比的病例对照研究。病例为研究区的发育不良儿童，对照组为非惊吓儿童。从发育不良的儿童中随机选择病例，从非震惊的儿童中随机选择对照。使用卡方检验比较了受访者的描述性特征，在控制了其他变量后，使用多变量logistic回归评估意外怀孕对发育迟缓的影响，p值为0.05。结果结果表明，意外怀孕是发育迟缓的预测因素之一，其中意外怀孕的儿童发生发育迟缓的可能性高约三倍[AOR：2.62，CI：（1.26，5.45）]。在这项研究中确定的其他预测因素是父亲的教育程度，家庭的财富指数和每日进餐频率。根据发现，来自文盲父亲的孩子[AOR：3.43，CI：（1.04，11.29）]，发现家庭经济状况较差的儿童[AOR：2.32，CI：（1.20，4.49）]和日常进餐​​频率低于建议的进食次数的儿童[AOR：4.50，CI：（1.31，15.49）]更发育不良。结论基于这项研究的结果，意外怀孕的儿童表现出明显的发育迟缓风险。因此，防止意外怀孕可能在降低儿童发育迟缓的风险中起重要作用。