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Background: Exposure of the skin to solar ultraviolet B radiation is the major source of vitamin
D in our body and Vitamin D is essential for the growth of healthy bones. Poor practice of
sunlight exposure in a country where no supplementation of vitamin D exists, will result in
vitamin D deficiency status which is associated with rickets, demineralization of the skeleton,
growth retardation and skeletal deformities in children and infantile eczema in neonates,
cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, depression, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, autoimmune
diseases and adult onset diabetes mellitus. Therefore the objective of this study was to assess
practice and factors associated with infant sunlight exposure among mothers in Adami Tulu Jido
Kombolcha woreda, East Shoa zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2022.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study design was conducted in Adami Tulu Jido
Kombolcha woreda on 575 mothers with infants from March 11-25, 2022. Simple random
sampling techniques was employed to select kebeles and systematic random sampling was used
to select study participants. Data were collected by using semi-structured and structured
questionnaire with face-to-face interview. Data were entered into EPI Data version 3.1 and
exported to SPSS window version 25 for the analysis. Descriptive statistics such as proportion,
frequencies, cross tabulation, and measure of central tendency were calculated and presented by
tables and figures. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis were done. All
variables with p-value <0.25 in Bivariable analysis and variables with p-value< 0.05 in
multivariable analysis were used to declare statistically significant association.
Result: All 575 mothers were interviewed and responded 100%. Out of 567 mothers who had
practice of infant sunlight exposure, 44.8% of them had poor practice of infant sunlight
exposure. Not getting an advice in the health facility on the day of delivery (AOR=3.05, 95% CI:
1.08, 8.60), not having postnatal care follow-up (AOR=2.38, 95% CI: 1.15, 4.94) and having
poor knowledge about sunlight exposure (AOR=1.70, 95% CI: 1.15, 2.50) had significant
association with mothers’ poor practice about sunlight exposure of infants.
Conclusions and Recommendations: In this study finding almost about half of the respondents
had poor practice of infants’ sunlight exposure. There were gaps on initiation time of sunlight
exposure, time to stay while exposing, and time of application of lubricants as well as number of
days of exposure. Hence, mothers need to be educated about the importance of sunlight
exposure. |
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