review · PLoS ONE
Anaemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia represents a notable public health challenge. A systematic analysis pooling data from ten cross-sectional studies published between 1988 and 2021 established an overall anaemia prevalence of 23.02 percent among this population. Subgroup evaluations revealed that studies with larger sample sizes reported a higher pooled prevalence of 27.35 percent. Significant risk factors linked to the condition include older adolescence, specifically between 15 and 19 years of age, living in rural settings, and maintaining low dietary diversity. Overall, the findings demonstrate that adolescent girls in rural areas and those with limited access to diverse diets experience greater vulnerability to anaemia, highlighting key demographic and nutritional indicators associated with the condition across the country.
Anaemia impairs both physical growth and cognitive development in young adults and adolescents. By quantifying national prevalence and highlighting vulnerable groups, this evidence helps public health planners, non-governmental organisations, and healthcare programmes direct targeted nutritional interventions and clinical resources to older adolescent girls and rural communities most at risk of nutritional deficiencies.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway for commercial technologies or products. The findings primarily offer epidemiological evidence that public health agencies and nutritional programme developers can use to design targeted dietary interventions, rural health services, and community-level nutritional supplementation initiatives.
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BACKGROUND: Anemia is the reduction of red blood cells in size and numbers and an indicator of both poor nutrition and poor health. It is a major global public health problem. Anemia in adolescents and young adults can have negative effects on their cognitive performance and growth. In Ethiopia, previous studies yielded variable prevalence. This review aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of adolescent girls' anemia and associated factors in Ethiopia. METHODS: We searched for studies reporting anemia and associated factors among adolescent girls as reported in peer reviews publications in Ethiopia from 1988 to 2021 from PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, and Worldwide Science database. The search strategy identified 309 cross-sectional studies. After screening for potentially eligible articles, we identified 37 publications for full text review, following which 10 publications were included in the final review. Using data from the review, we performed meta-analysis to produce pooled estimates and assess the prevalence of anemia and associated risk factors. Data were extracted using a standardized data extraction format prepared in Microsoft Excel™ and transferred to Stata ™ Version 14.0 for management and further analysis. To identify the source of heterogeneity, subgroup analysis using sample size and study setup was computed, and I2 test was used to declare the presence or absence of significant heterogeneity during subgroup analysis. A random-effect meta-analysis model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of adolescent girls' anemia. Moreover associated factors for adolescent anemia were assessed too. RESULTS: The overall pooled prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls' in Ethiopia was 23.02% (95% CI: 17.21to 28.84). In the subgroup analysis, studies that have a higher sample size than mean have a higher pooled prevalence (27.35%) (95% CI: 21.42 to 33.28) compared to their counterparts. Age being 15-19 (OR: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.52 to 2.96), living in rural areas (OR: 2.05; 95% CI: 1.66 to 2.54), and low dietary diversity (OR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.00 to 2.34), were the identified factors associated with anemia among adolescent girls'. CONCLUSION: The pooled prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia was moderately high. Being in 15-19 years, rural residence, and low dietary diversity score were found to be the significant factors of anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia.
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DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264063
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