Does dietary diversity predict the nutritional status of adolescents in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia?

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the association between dietary diversity and nutritional status of adolescents in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. A secondary data was used to assess the association between dietary diversity and nutritional status of adolescents in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. Adolescents in the age of 13–17 years old included in the analysis. The data cleaned, coded and analyzed using Stata version 14. RESULTS: Over all prevalence of stunting and thinness were 26.1% and 25.3%. Stunting was higher among female adolescents (23.8%) than male (21.9%), while thinness was higher among male (27.5%) than female (25.3%) adolescents. In multivariate binary logistic regression model, being female adolescents were 98% (AOR = 1.98; 95% CI 1.6, 2.4] higher odd of stunted compared with those male adolescents, households had food insecurity were 67% [AOR = 1.67; 95% CI 0.6, 0.9] more likely to be associated with stunted than with those households which had secure foods. Adolescents who had high workload were 2.6 times [AOR = 2.6; 95% CI 1.2, 3.1] more likely to be associated with thinness compared with those adolescents who didn’t had high workload.