PREVALENCE OF VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN HARAMAYA DISTRICT, EASTERN OROMIYA, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the public health problems in low and middle income countries including Ethiopia. It affects women in child bearing age group and primarily effect to pregnant women. The prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency and associated factors among pregnant women are urgently important for prioritizing, designing interventional programs aimed at improving maternal nutrition but in Ethiopia there is limited information about Vitamin A deficiency and associated factors among pregnant women. Thus, this study intended to identify the prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency and associated factors among pregnant women in the Haramaya district. Objective:- This study aimed to assess the prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency and associated factors among pregnant women in Haramaya district, eastern Oromia, Ethiopia. Methods:- Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 5th, January to12thof February, 2021 on 397 randomly selected pregnant women. Data were collected through interviews using pretested structured questionnaire and a 5ml venous blood was collected aseptically from the ante-cubital veins and then aliquot into tubes without anticoagulant to measure serum retinol concentration. Data were double entered to Epi Data 3.1 and exported to STATA 14 for analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the association between Serum retinol and independent variables. The adjusted odds ratios along with a 95 % confidence interval were computed to assess the strength of the association. Level of statistical significance was declared at p value less than 0.05. Results:-The prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency was 48.1%, 95% CI: (43.10%-53.12%). Food Consumption Score [(AOR=0.43, 95% CI:(0.22, 0.83)], Chewing Khat [(AOR=1.69, 95% CI: (1.09- 2.60)], and educational level of husband [(AOR=0.45, 95%CI: (0.23, 0.86)] were significantly associated with Vitamin A deficiency. Conclusion and Recommendation:-Vitamin A deficiency was sever public health problem among pregnant women in Haramaya district. Those pregnant women who chewed Khat more likely to develop VAD but those pregnant women who had acceptable Food Consumption Score and had educated husband who can read and write less likely to develop VAD when compared with others. Therefore, avoiding chewing Khat during pregnancy, improving women education, appropriate feeding practice, food diversity and continue further studies using all the available Vitamin A biomarkers to elucidate the potential risk factors of Vitamin A deficiency among pregnant women