Year: 2023 | Month: December | Volume: 13 | Issue: 12 | Pages: 77-86
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20231210
Prevalence and Determinance of Failure to Thrive Among Children in Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Emmanuel Deborah1, Enwani IB2, Ukibe Nkiruka. R3, Franco Apiyanteide4, Duru BN5
1Department of Nursing, Mental Health Unit, Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa.
2Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Health Science and Technology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi.
3Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Health Science and Technology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi.
4Department of Public Health, Novena University, Ogume Delta State.
5Department of Chemical Pathology, Federal College of Veterinary and Medical Laboratory Technology, Vom.
Corresponding Author: Emmanuel Deborah
ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of failure to thrive among children in Bayelsa state and its associated factors. It was a cross-sectional study designed to obtain anthropometric data and history of failure to thrive children and determine associated factors by using a pre-tested questionnaire. A total of 374 failure to thrive children ages 1 to 5 years were investigated from three local government areas of the State; Southern Ijaw (124), Yenagoa (126) and Nembe (124). 185 were males while 189 were females. The Gomez classification and four-week recall approaches were used as criteria to estimate failure to thrive among children. 24.6% (92) of the children were diagnosed to have failure to thrive using the Gomez criteria while 19.8% (18) of the children were said to have failure to thrive using the four weeks’ recall approach. Furthermore, result also showed that majority of the cases of failure to thrive are a mix of organic and non-organic factors with a significant relationship between health status of child at birth using Chi-square (X2) = 14.357, difference (d) = 1, and P-value = 0.000 at 95% confidence interval, thus showing a significant relationship between failure to thrive and child being ill at birth and health status of the mother. Also, there was a significant relationship between failure to thrive and exposure to environmental pollutants with Chi-square (X2) = 11.607, difference (d) = 1, and P-value = 0.001 at 95% confidence interval. The high prevalence of failure to thrive among children under the age of five in Bayelsa State calls for immediate public actions such as promotion of optimum infant and young child nutrition and regular growth monitoring of children and mothers health in the state for improved growth and development and health outcomes of children in the state.
Key words: Failure to thrive children, exposure, ill health, Prevalence, Bayelsa State, Gomez criteria, organic factors, non-organic factors.