Abstract:
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. In different countries of the world, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in infants is believed to be in the range of 2.7% to 45%. This may be due to inappropriate practice of sunlight exposure. Poor practice of sunlight exposure in a country where no supplementation of vitamin D exists will result in vitamin D deficiency and its complications. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the level of sunlight exposure practice and associated factors of infants among mothers visiting Tibebe Ghion specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 2022.
Methods and materials: An institutional based cross sectional study was conducted among 390 mothers of children < 1year of age visiting Tibebe Ghion comprehensive specialized hospital from April 2022-July 2022.Census sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was entered in to SPSS Version 25 for analysis. 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.
Results: In this study, 390 participants were involved with response rate of 93.1%. Of these, 335(85.9%) of mothers exposed their infants to sunlight and 135(40.3%) of respondents had poor sunlight exposure practice. Maternal age >32years (AOR=9.025(95%CI,1.803-45.187)),maternal educational status diploma & above(AOR=14.202,(95% CI,1.382-145.891)),no fear of evil eye(AOR=4.544,(95%CI,1.698-12.161),ante-natal care visit(AOR=4.376,(95%CI,1.231-18.216)), and post-natal care visit(AOR=2.800,(95%CI,1.82-6.631)) were significantly associated with practice of sunlight exposure.
Conclusion and recommendation: In this study, practices of sunlight exposure of infants among mothers visiting TGCSH for their infants was low compared to other studies which is (85.9%).Maternal age, maternal educational status, no fear of evil eye ANC and PNC cares were significantly associated with mothers practice about infant sunlight exposure.
Counseling of mothers during Antenatal care, labor and delivery, postnatal care and at expanded program on immunization services about benefit of practices of sunlight exposure is recommended.
Key Words: Mothers Practice, sunlight exposure, Infant, TGCSH, Bahir Dar