Effect of modern family planning use on nutritional status of women of reproductive age group at Tena District, Arsi Zone,Oromiya Region, Ethiopia: A comparative study
Abstract
Abstract
Background: Women in developing countries conceive on average six to eight children over their reproductive life span. Short inter-pregnancy intervals or early pregnancies result in maternal depletion of energy and protein and micronutrients leading to a reduction in maternal nutritional status at conception and altered pregnancy outcomes. Extending birth spacing would presumably provide the women the time to replenish their nutrient stores.
Objective: To Assess the Effect of Modern Family Planning Method utilization on the nutritional status of reproductive aged (15-49 years) women in rural settings.
Methods: A community based quantitative comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in three kebeles randomly selected at Tena Woreda, Arsi Zone, Oromiya Rgion in 2013. Prior to the study, family planning users (MFPM) and non-users for at least one year were identifiedand registered. Atotal of 360 sampled subjects were enrolled using systematic random sampling. Data were entered in Epi-Info version 3.5.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 17 software. To see the effect of modern family planning method use on the nutritional status of women, both bi-variate and multivariate logistic regression analysis wered one and variables with variance inflation factor greater than 10 was removed from the multivariate analysis to avoid the problem of multi-collinearity.
Results: The mean height, weight, MUAC and BMI of the respondents were 156.7±5.5 (NFP 155.9±5.2 vs. FP157.5±5.6), 50.0±7.2 (NFP 47.4 ±6.1 vs. FP 52.6±7.4), 23.4±2.9 (NFP 22.3±2.4 vs. FP 24.5±2.9) and 20.3±2.4 (NFP 19.4±2.1 vs. FP 21.1±2.4), respectively and the difference noted between the groups was significant. The proportion of respondents with height ≤145cm, weight ≤ 45kg, BMI below18.5kg/m2 and MUAC below21cm was higher in NFP than FP users and the difference noted was significant except for height. About two-fifth(42.8%) of NFP user women and less than 1/5th(18.3%) of FP user women had weight below 45kg. One quarter (24.7%) of the respondents had MUAC below 21cm (38.3% NFP vs. 11.1% FP users). Women of NFP user were more underweight 70 (38.9%) than FP user women 26(14.4%). The major factors associated with women’s underweight include: currently lactating (AOR=4.6; 95%CI=2.4 to 9.1); FPM utilization (AOR=2.3; 95%CI = 1.3 to 4.6); educational status (AOR=2.6; 95%CI =1.3 to 5.3); illness in the past one year (AOR=1.9; 95%CI= 1.1 to 3.3), consumption of mealless than three times a day (AOR =3.6;95%CI=1.0 to 13.2) and never ate meat per week (AOR=4.1; 95%CI= 1.8 to 9.2).
Conclusions: The prevalence of underweight was significantly higher among women who did not use family planning than family planning users. Continuous supply of modern family planning with different range is important for improvement of women’s nutritional and health status. Other than this, it is equally important to empower women and to have access for increased dietary intake during the different reproductive life span. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2014;28(2):81-88]