Anemia severity among children aged 6–59 months in Gondar town, Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study

Table 1 Characteristics of children aged 6–59 months who participated in the study, Gondar Town, April 2014

Characteristics	Categories	Frequency (n)	Percentage (%)
Sex of child	Male	378	53.5
Sex of child	Female	329	46.5
Age of child (months)	6–11	74	10.5
	12–23	181	25.6
	24–35	174	24.6
	36–47	155	21.9
	48–59	123	17.4
Child’s place of delivery	At home	145	20.5
Child’s place of delivery	At health institution	562	79.5
Child’s birth type	Singleton	692	97.9
Child’s birth type	Twins	15	2.1
Mode of delivery	CS or instrumental delivery	73	10.3
Mode of delivery	spontaneous vaginal delivery	634	89.7
Pre-lacteal feeding	Yes	58	8.2
Pre-lacteal feeding	No	649	91.8
Exclusive breastfeeding status^a	Exclusively breastfed	577	81.6
Exclusive breastfeeding status^a	Not exclusively breastfed	130	18.4
Breastfeeding status	Being breastfed	301	42.6
Breastfeeding status	Not being breastfed	406	57.4
Preceding birth interval^b	12–24 months	83	19.9
	25–48 months	149	35.6
	> 48 months	186	44.5
WHZ	Wasted	46	6.5
WHZ	Normal	661	93.5
HAZ	Stunted	323	45.7
HAZ	Normal	384	54.3
WAZ	Underweight	111	15.7
WAZ	Normal	596	84.3
Complementary feeding frequency	< 4 time per day	210	29.7
	4–5 times per day	440	62.2
	> 5 time per day	57	8.1

^aAn exclusive breastfeeding time was until 6 months of age as to WHO standard; ^bPercentage was calculated for 418 children whose birth order is 2nd and above; CS: Caesarian section; HAZ: Height-for-Age Z-score; WAZ: Weight-for-Age Z-score; WHZ: Weight-for-Height Z-score

ISSN: 1824-7288