Background

Vitamin A deficiency is highly prevalent in low-income countries and is a major public health problem worldwide. Lactating mothers are the most vulnerable population group to vitamin A deficiency. Despite this, there is limited study on vitamin A-rich food consumption by lactating mothers in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess adequate vitamin A rich food consumption and associated factors among lactating mothers visiting child immunization and postnatal care centers in health institutions of Gondar Town.

Methods

An Institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed at a health institution in Gondar Town from February to March 2019, and included 631 study participants. Simple random sampling followed by a systematic sampling technique was used to select participants. The data were collected using the Helen Keller International Food Frequency Questionnaire, entered using Epi-Info 7 statistical software and exported to STATA version 14 for analysis. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with the outcome variable and variables with p-value <0.05 were considered as statistically significant.

Result

A total of 624 lactating mothers participated in the study giving a response rate of 98.89%. The study shows adequate consumption of vitamin A-rich food was 38.94% (95% CI: 35%- 43%). Predictors such as attending college diploma and above (AOR = 2.26, 95% CI; 1.02–4.99), having household family size ≤ 3 (AOR = 4.04, 95% CI; 1.60–10.17), being in higher economic class (AOR = 1.93, 95% CI; 1.18–3.14), having dietary diversity score of ≥ 5 (AOR = 1.59, 95% CI; 1.09–2.32) and meal frequency of ≥ 4 (AOR = 1.64, 95% CI; 1.09–2.32) were statistically significant.

Conclusion and recommendation

The majority of respondents had inadequate consumption of foods rich in vitamin A. Educational status, family size, wealth index, dietary diversity, and meal frequency were found to be factors that affect adequate consumption of vitamin A-rich foods. Encouraging and educating lactating mothers to consume foods rich in vitamin A is crucial.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚西北部贡德尔镇卫生机构的哺乳期母亲前往儿童免疫和产后诊所就诊时富含维生素 A 的充足食物摄入量及相关因素。

背景

维生素 A 缺乏症在低收入国家非常普遍，是世界范围内的一个主要公共卫生问题。哺乳期母亲是最容易缺乏维生素A的人群。尽管如此，关于埃塞俄比亚哺乳期母亲食用富含维生素 A 的食物的研究仍然有限。因此，本研究旨在评估前往贡德尔镇卫生机构的儿童免疫和产后护理中心的哺乳期母亲的充足维生素A食物消费量及相关因素。

方法

2019 年 2 月至 3 月，贡德尔镇的一家卫生机构采用了一项基于机构的横断面研究设计，包括 631 名研究参与者。使用简单随机抽样和系统抽样技术来选择参与者。使用海伦·凯勒国际食物频率问卷收集数据，使用 Epi-Info 7 统计软件输入并导出到 STATA 版本 14 进行分析。使用多变量逻辑回归分析来确定与结果变量相关的因素，并且p值<0.05的变量被认为具有统计显着性。

结果

共有 624 名哺乳期母亲参与了该研究，回应率为 98.89%。研究显示，充足食用富含维生素A的食物的比例为38.94%（95% CI：35%-43%）。预测因素，例如大学文凭及以上学历（AOR = 2.26，95% CI；1.02–4.99）、家庭规模≤ 3（AOR = 4.04，95% CI；1.60–10.17）、处于较高经济阶层（AOR = 1.93，95% CI；1.18–3.14），饮食多样性评分≥ 5（AOR = 1.59，95% CI；1.09–2.32），进餐频率≥ 4（AOR = 1.64，95% CI；1.09–2.32）具有统计学意义。

结论与建议

大多数受访者对富含维生素A的食物摄入不足。教育程度、家庭规模、财富指数、饮食多样性和进餐频率被发现是影响富含维生素A食物充足摄入的因素。鼓励和教育哺乳期母亲食用富含维生素A的食物至关重要。