Spatial variation of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption and associated factors among children aged 6-23 month in Ethiopia

Spatial variation of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption and associated factors among children aged 6-23 month in Ethiopia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Spatial variation of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption and associated factors among children aged 6-23 month in Ethiopia Adugna Mengesha Mulugeta, Anley Shiferaw Enawgaw, Yihenew Getahun Ambaw, and 15 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9340236/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Zero vitamin A-rich food consumption defined as the absence of any vitamin A-rich food intake among children aged 6–23 months within a 24-hour recall period. Substantial regional, socioeconomic, and agro-ecological disparities suggest that zero vitamin A-rich food consumption may exhibit geographic variation across the country. However, evidence on its spatial distribution and context-specific determinants remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the spatial variation of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption and its associated factors among children aged 6–23 months in Ethiopia using nationally representative data. Methods : A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using nationally representative data from the 2019 EMDHS. The study included a weighted sample of 1,543 children aged 6–23 months with complete information on vitamin A-rich food consumption. Stratified two-stage cluster sampling technique was applied in the original survey. Data were analyzed using Stata 16, ArcGIS 10.8, SaTScan 9.6, and MGWR 2.0. Spatial autocorrelation was assessed using Global Moran’s I, and hot spot analysis was performed using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic. Model comparison was conducted using adjusted R² and AICc values, and statistical significance was declared at p < 0.05 with a 95% confidence interval. Result : The spatial distribution of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption among children aged 6–23 months was non-random in Ethiopia (Moran’s I = 0.874, p < 0.001). Hot spot and spatial scan analyses identified 74 significant clusters. Maternal current pregnancy status, marital status, maternal education, number of under-five children, and age of the child were significant predictors of the spatial variation of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption. Conclusion : Significant geographic variation in zero vitamin A-rich food consumption was observed across Ethiopia. Maternal education, current pregnancy status, number of under-five children, marital status, and child age were significant predictors. These findings highlight the need for geographically targeted, context-specific interventions. Health sciences/Diseases Health sciences/Health care Health sciences/Medical research Health sciences/Risk factors zero vitamin A-rich food consumption spatial regression Ethiopia Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9340236","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":618924199,"identity":"cd63dab6-4b22-42ae-82c1-8e4b71ec0fb3","order_by":0,"name":"Adugna Mengesha 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University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Aysheshim","middleName":"Belaineh","lastName":"Haimanot","suffix":""},{"id":618924216,"identity":"1e21c8a1-70a4-474b-bfa4-4cd989f91ef8","order_by":17,"name":"Yezbie Wagaw Ayicheh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Debre Markos University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yezbie","middleName":"Wagaw","lastName":"Ayicheh","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-07 06:09:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9340236/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9340236/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106726506,"identity":"e2815d87-7710-4bb0-8b36-a5cad7bfa294","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-12 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Ethiopia","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"zero vitamin A-rich food consumption, spatial regression, Ethiopia","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9340236/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9340236/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eZero vitamin A-rich food consumption defined as the absence of any vitamin A-rich food intake among children aged 6\u0026ndash;23 months within a 24-hour recall period. Substantial regional, socioeconomic, and agro-ecological disparities suggest that zero vitamin A-rich food consumption may exhibit geographic variation across the country. However, evidence on its spatial distribution and context-specific determinants remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the spatial variation of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption and its associated factors among children aged 6\u0026ndash;23 months in Ethiopia using nationally representative data.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eMethods\u003c/b\u003e: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using nationally representative data from the 2019 EMDHS. The study included a weighted sample of 1,543 children aged 6\u0026ndash;23 months with complete information on vitamin A-rich food consumption. Stratified two-stage cluster sampling technique was applied in the original survey. Data were analyzed using Stata 16, ArcGIS 10.8, SaTScan 9.6, and MGWR 2.0. Spatial autocorrelation was assessed using Global Moran\u0026rsquo;s I, and hot spot analysis was performed using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic. Model comparison was conducted using adjusted R\u0026sup2; and AICc values, and statistical significance was declared at p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05 with a 95% confidence interval.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eResult\u003c/b\u003e: The spatial distribution of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption among children aged 6\u0026ndash;23 months was non-random in Ethiopia (Moran\u0026rsquo;s I\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.874, p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). Hot spot and spatial scan analyses identified 74 significant clusters. Maternal current pregnancy status, marital status, maternal education, number of under-five children, and age of the child were significant predictors of the spatial variation of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eConclusion\u003c/b\u003e: Significant geographic variation in zero vitamin A-rich food consumption was observed across Ethiopia. Maternal education, current pregnancy status, number of under-five children, marital status, and child age were significant predictors. These findings highlight the need for geographically targeted, context-specific interventions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Spatial variation of zero vitamin A-rich food consumption and associated factors among children aged 6-23 month in Ethiopia","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-09 13:41:42","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9340236/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"390a184b-6b39-4137-8dc5-c83b9e753d8d","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 9th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":65858078,"name":"Health sciences/Diseases"},{"id":65858079,"name":"Health sciences/Health care"},{"id":65858080,"name":"Health sciences/Medical research"},{"id":65858081,"name":"Health sciences/Risk factors"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-09T18:10:00+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-09 13:41:42","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9340236","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9340236","identity":"rs-9340236","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}