ArticlePloS one2019
The epidemiology of undernutrition and its determinants in children under five years in Ghana.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 165 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Prevalence and risk factors of under-five mortality due to severe acute malnutrition in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of Fish-Based Diet on Malnourished Children: A Systematic Review.Iranian journal of medical sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Adolescent pregnancy is associated with child undernutrition: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- The Burden of Malnutrition and Confounders Among Children Aged Between 6 and 60 Months: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Resources Constraint Region.Maternal and child health journal · 2026Article
- Household wealth, women's empowerment, and food insecurity in conflict-affected Southeast Myanmar.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2026Article
- Association Between Hydration Status, Nutrition, and Cognitive Performance in School-Age Children in Kumasi, Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Exploring the Association Between Household Toilet Facility Type and Chronic Malnutrition in Children Under 5 years in Ghana's Northern Zone.Environmental health insights · 2026Article
- Article
- Magnitude of Stunting and Its Determinants Among Under-Five Children in Awi Zone, Northwest Ethiopia.Journal of nutrition and metabolism · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Relationship between maternal social support and undernutrition among children under 5 years in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia: the chain mediating roles of household food insecurity and maternal depression.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Under-nutrition and its associated factors among under-five children across urban and rural settings of Ethiopia: a cross-sectional comparative study.BMC nutrition · 2025Article
- Coexisting predictors for undernutrition indices among under-five children in West Africa: application of a multilevel multivariate ordinal logistic regression model.BMC nutrition · 2025Article
- Identifying determinants of malnutrition in under-five children in Bangladesh: insights from the BDHS-2022 cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The association between single motherhood and child undernutrition in Zambia: analysis of the 2007, 2013-14 and 2018 Demographic and Health Surveys.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Assessing Preparedness for Nutritional Emergencies in Rural and Urban Healthcare Facilities: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Randomized prenatal and postnatal nutrient supplementation shows no long-term impact on cortical gray matter in Ghanaian children.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding the burden and contextual risk factors is critical for developing appropriate interventions to control undernutrition.
methodsThis study used data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey to estimate the prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting. Single multiple logistic regressions were used to identify the factors associated with underweight, wasting and stunting. The study involved 2720 children aged 0-59 months old and mother pairs. All analyses were done in STATA/IC version 15.0. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.
resultsThe prevalence of underweight, wasting and stunting were 10.4%, 5.3%, and 18.4% respectively. The age of the child was associated with underweight, wasting and stunting, whereas the sex was associated with wasting and stunting. Normal or overweight/obese maternal body mass index category, high woman's autonomy and middle-class wealth index were associated with a lower odds of undernutrition. The factors that were associated with a higher odds of child undernutrition included: low birth weight (<2.5 kg), minimum dietary diversity score (MDDS), a higher (≥4th) birth order number of child, primary educational level of husband/partner and domicile in the northern region of Ghana.
conclusionThere is still a high burden of child undernutrition in Ghana. The age, sex, birth weight, birth order and the MDDS of the child were the immediate factors associated with child undernutrition. The intermediate factors that were associated with child undernutrition were mainly maternal related factors and included maternal nutritional status and autonomy. Distal level factors which were associated with a higher odds of child undernutrition were the wealth index of the household, paternal educational status and region of residence. We recommend that interventions and policies for undernutrition should address socioeconomic inequalities at the community level while factoring in women empowerment programmes.
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