Concurrent anemia and stunting in young children: prevalence, dietary and non-dietary associated factors

Cross-sectional analysis of the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). Participants: 2902 children aged 6–23 months; 53.1% girls (1542) and 46.9% boys (1360); majority rural (88.1%); caregivers with low education. Two-stage cluster sampling; data weighted and svyset-adjusted.

CAS prevalence was 23.9% among 6–23 month-old children in Ethiopia. Dietary factors linked to lower odds of CAS include vitamin A supplementation, consumption of vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables, meat, legumes, and meal frequency >3 per day. Non-dietary risk factors for CAS included rural residence, low household wealth, low caregiver education, male sex, age 12–23 months, infection history, and small birth size. Implications: Strengthen public health/nutrition interventions that address micronutrient supplementation, diversified feeding, hygiene, and health care to reduce CAS burden.

Cross-sectional design limits causal inference; potential recall bias and misclassification from caregiver-reported data (birth size, infection history, dietary frequency/diversity); 13.8% data incompleteness leading to exclusion of 430 cases; results may be influenced by complex sampling and residual confounding.