Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Jan-Dec:18:17455057221129398.
doi: 10.1177/17455057221129398.

Menstrual abnormality, maternal illiteracy, and household factors as main predictors of anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Fitsum Endale  1 , Demelash Woldeyohannes  1 , Fanuel Belayneh  2 , Aiggan Tamene  1 , Aklilu Habte  1 , Addisalem Gizachew  1 , Dawit Sulamo  1 , Yohannes Kebede  1 , Janet Yohannes  3 , Tadesse Mekonen  4 , Denebo Akiso  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Menstrual abnormality, maternal illiteracy, and household factors as main predictors of anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Fitsum Endale et al. Womens Health (Lond). 2022 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Adolescent girls are more likely to develop anemia as a result of physical and physiological changes that place a greater strain on their nutritional needs. Primary studies, on the other hand, may not be sufficient to provide a complete picture of anemia in adolescent girls and its major risk factors.

Objective: The study aimed to describe the pooled prevalence of adolescent girls' anemia and the factors that contribute.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of observational studies using the databases CINAHL (EBSCO), PubMed, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of the articles, and studies of fair to good quality were included. We pooled anemia prevalence among adolescents and odds ratio estimates for risk factors. Subgroup analysis employing sample size and study setup was computed to determine the source of heterogeneity, and the I2 test was used to identify the existence or absence of substantial heterogeneity during subgroup analysis. The pooled prevalence of adolescent girls' anemia was calculated using a random-effects meta-analysis model.

Results: The overall pooled prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia was 23.03% (95% confidence interval: 17.07, 28.98). Low dietary diversity (odds ratio: 1.56; 95% confidence interval: 1.05, 2.32), illiterate mothers (odds ratio: 1.45; 95% confidence interval: 1.13, 1.86), household size greater than five (odds ratio: 1.65; 95% confidence interval: 1.14, 2.38), food-insecure households (odds ratio: 1.48; 95% confidence interval: 1.21, 1.82), and menstrual blood flow more than 5 days (odds ratio: 6.21; 95% confidence interval: 1.67, 23.12) were the identified factors associated with anemia among adolescent girls.

Conclusion: The pooled prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia was moderately high. Therefore, to combat the burden of anemia among adolescent girls offering nutritional education is crucial. Iron supplementation is also recommended for adolescent females who have a menstrual cycle that lasts longer than 5 days.

Keywords: Ethiopia; adolescent girls; anemia; meta-analysis; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram for the selection of eligible studies for systematic review and meta-analysis on anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Forest plot depicting pooled prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Funnel plot showing publication bias of anemia studies among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Subgroup pooled prevalence estimate of anemia by study area among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Subgroup pooled prevalence estimate of anemia by publication year among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Subgroup pooled prevalence estimate of anemia by study setting among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Forest plot showing the association between dietary diversity score and anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Forest plot showing the association between maternal illiteracy and anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
Forest plot showing the association between household size and anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 10.
Figure 10.
Forest plot showing the association between household food insecurity and anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
Figure 11.
Figure 11.
Forest plot showing the association between menstrual flow duration and anemia among adolescent girls in Ethiopia, 2022.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Kassebaum NJ; GBD 2013 Anemia Collaborators. The global burden of anemia. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am 2016; 30(2): 247–308. - PubMed
    1. Gardner W, Kassebaum N. Global, regional, and national prevalence of anemia and its causes in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019. Curr Dev Nutr 2020; 4(suppl. 2): 830.
    1. Sudfeld CR, Rai RK, Barik A, et al.. Population-level effective coverage of adolescent weekly iron and folic acid supplementation is low in rural West Bengal, India. Public Health Nutr 2020; 23(15): 2819–2823. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kassebaum NJ, Jasrasaria R, Naghavi M, et al.. A systematic analysis of global anemia burden from 1990 to 2010. Blood 2014; 123(5): 615–624. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Central Statistics Agency of Ethiopia (CSA). Population and housing census of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: CSA, 2007.