Does dietary diversity predict the nutritional status of adolescents in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia?

Objective: This study aimed to assess the association between dietary diversity and nutritional status of adolescents in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. A secondary data was used to assess the association between dietary diversity and nutritional status of adolescents in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. Adolescents in the age of 13-17 years old included in the analysis. The data cleaned, coded and analyzed using Stata version 14.

Results: Over all prevalence of stunting and thinness were 26.1% and 25.3%. Stunting was higher among female adolescents (23.8%) than male (21.9%), while thinness was higher among male (27.5%) than female (25.3%) adolescents. In multivariate binary logistic regression model, being female adolescents were 98% (AOR = 1.98; 95% CI 1.6, 2.4] higher odd of stunted compared with those male adolescents, households had food insecurity were 67% [AOR = 1.67; 95% CI 0.6, 0.9] more likely to be associated with stunted than with those households which had secure foods. Adolescents who had high workload were 2.6 times [AOR = 2.6; 95% CI 1.2, 3.1] more likely to be associated with thinness compared with those adolescents who didn't had high workload.