{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T03:33:56Z","timestamp":1782704036693,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,10]],"date-time":"2023-08-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1691625600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"\nBackground<\/jats:title>\nBenin ranks as one of the countries in the world with an alarmingly high prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight in children under five years. However, limited studies have examined the factors associated with the prevalence of these undernutrition indicators among children under five years in the country. This study aimed to fill this research gap by examining the prevalence rates and factors associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight among this specific population of interest.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n\nMethods<\/jats:title>\nThis quantitative study utilised data from the most recent Benin Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) conducted in 2017\u201318. The survey employed a nationally representative cross-sectional design and utilised a two-stage stratified cluster sampling technique to select participants. The study included a sample of 13,589 children under the age of five years. The main analytical approach employed was binary logistic regression, which was used to explore the associations between undernutrition (the combined outcome variable representing stunting, wasting, and underweight) and various socio-demographic factors.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n\nResults<\/jats:title>\nThe combined prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children under five years in Benin during the 2017\u201318 survey period was 14.95%. Several factors were significantly associated with these indicators of undernutrition, including female gender (AOR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.59\u20130.85), birth weight of 4.1 kg and over (AOR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.14\u20130.48), multiple births (AOR = 3.22, 95% CI = 2.11\u20134.91), and a child\u2019s experience of diarrhoea (AOR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.40\u20132.20). Furthermore, the prevalence of these undernutrition indicators was higher among children whose mothers had lower levels of education (AOR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.01\u20130.42) and were unmarried (AOR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.49\u20130.93).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n\nConclusions<\/jats:title>\nThis present study confirms that undernutrition rates are elevated in Benin and are closely linked to perinatal factors such as birth weights and multiple births, postnatal health conditions including diarrheal episodes, and socio-demographic determinants such as a child\u2019s gender, maternal education level, and marital status. Therefore, there is the need to consider specific modifiable factors, such as low birth weight, episodes of child diarrhoea, and maternal education as priority targets for child nutrition interventions in Benin.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0289933","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,10]],"date-time":"2023-08-10T17:47:39Z","timestamp":1691689659000},"page":"e0289933","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Prevalence and factors associated with undernutrition among children under the age of five years in Benin"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Isaac Yeboah","family":"Addo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elijah Frimpong","family":"Boadu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8956-8839","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Emmanuel","family":"Osei Bonsu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caleb","family":"Boadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frederick Asankom","family":"Dadzie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,10]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0289933.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0245455","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0245455","article-title":"Stunting, wasting, overweight and their coexistence among children under 7 years in the context of the social rapidly developing: Findings from a population-based survey in nine cities of China in 2016","volume":"16","author":"Y-Q Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"PloS one"},{"key":"pone.0289933.ref002","volume-title":"Malnutrition: Key Facts","author":"World Health Organisation","year":"2021"},{"key":"pone.0289933.ref003","volume-title":"Underweight among children under 5 years of age (number in millions) (JME). the global health Observatory-Explore a world of health data","author":"World Health Organisation","year":"2021"},{"key":"pone.0289933.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1740-8709.2011.00349.x","article-title":"Long\u2010term consequences of stunting in early life","volume":"7","author":"KG Dewey","year":"2011","journal-title":"Maternal & child nutrition"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0289933.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"386","DOI":"10.1016\/j.it.2016.04.003","article-title":"Immune dysfunction as a cause and consequence of malnutrition","volume":"37","author":"CD Bourke","year":"2016","journal-title":"Trends in immunology"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0289933.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1186\/s13643-019-1112-7","article-title":"Past drivers of and priorities for child undernutrition in South Asia: a mixed methods systematic review protocol","volume":"8","author":"N Wali","year":"2019","journal-title":"Systematic Reviews"},{"key":"pone.0289933.ref007","volume-title":"Levels and trends in child malnutrition","author":"UNICEF\/WHO\/The World Bank Group","year":"2013"},{"key":"pone.0289933.ref008","volume-title":"Levels and trends in child malnutrition. 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