Background: The co-occurrence of anemia in mothers and their children can be a larger public health issue. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of anemia among Bangladeshi mothers (currently living in Bangladesh) and their under-five children pair.
Methods: This was a household cross-sectional study. We used only secondary data, and that was extracted from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011. The presence of anemia among mothers and their under-five children was considered as the co-occurrence of anemia. A total of 1,281 of mother-child pairs were considered as samples. Frequency distribution, chi-square test and logistic regression model were used in this study.
Results: The prevalence of anemia among the defined mother-children pairs was found to be 45.8%, out of which 54.0%, 44.3%, and 1.7% had mild, moderate, and severe anemia respectively. The multivariable logistic model demonstrated that living in Barisal division, non-Muslims, poor household index, under-nutrition, children of less than 2 years and currently breastfeeding were the most influential factors of anemia among mothers and their under-five children in Bangladesh.
Conclusion: The co-occurrence of anemia among mother-child pairs was alarming in Bangladesh. Six modifiable risk factors were found, and these should be addressed for reducing the prevalence of anemia among mother-child pairs.