Assessment of Neonatal Sunlight Exposure and Factors Affecting it among Mothers Attending Governmental Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020.
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Date
2020-05
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Sunlight exposure is the main source of vitamin D and Vitamin D is essential for
the growth of healthy bones. Parents expose their neonates to sun light which has been used for
the therapeutics purposes of neonatal jaundice for a long period of time. Daily sunshine exposure
remains the cheapest, safest and most effective method to prevent rickets.
Objecti ve- The aim of this study was to assess neonatal sunlight exposure and factors affecting
it among mothers attending governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020.
Methods- Institution based cross sectional study was conducted among 420 mothers with their
neonates attending in immunization and follow up clinics of selected government hospitals in
Addis Ababa town. To select study participants by systematic random sampling techniques were
utilized. The collected data was entered by using Epi-data version 4.6 and which exported to
SPSS version 26 for analysis. Variables that have p-value ≤ 0.25 in bivariate modeling were
taken into the multivariable model to control for confounder. Statistical significance was
declared at p-value <0.05. Odds ratio with 95% CI is used to determine the direction and strength
of association.
Results: The prevalence of neonatal sunlight exposure in this study area was 27.1% with 95% CI
(22.9-31.7). In this study, parameters such as postnatal age of the neonate (AOR=1.99, 95% CI:
1.15-3.44), family size (AOR=1.86, 95% CI: 1.08-3.21), housing type (AOR=2.59, 95% CI:
1.26-5.32), antenatal care visit (AOR=2.79, 95% CI: 1.49-5.22), gestational age (AOR=2.54,
95% CI: 1.06-6.07), mother’s knowledge on sunlight exposure of their neonates (AOR=0.40,
95% CI: 0.22-0.70) and mothers fear to exposed sunlight for the neonates (AOR=1.83, 95% CI:
1.08-3.12) were factors associated with neonatal sunlight exposure.
Conclusion and Recommendations: The findings of this study showed that poor practice about
sunlight exposure. Therefore, health education which focuses on the importance of sunlight
exposure is vital to improve mothers’ practice on exposing sunlight for their neonates.
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Keywords
Sunlight exposure, Practice, Neonates, Addis Ababa