Body Fat Mass and Associated Factors among Moderate Acute Malnourished Children of Age between 5-7 Years Jimma Town Southwest Ethiopia

Background: Body fat is a normal component of human body that accumulates in adipose tissue. Obesity in children is a public health issue that necessitates a combination of individual, societal and environmental improvements. There is limited documentation in the study area about body fat mass among moderately malnourished age between 5-7 years of preschool and grade one children. Objective: The main aim of this study is to assess body fat mass and associated factors among MAM children of age between 5-7 years of (KG) and primary school in Jimma town southwest Ethiopia, 2022 Methods: Facility based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among moderate acute malnourished children aged between of 5-7 years old of Jimma town Kindergarten and primary school, from Jun -July, 2022. A total of 396 were selected by using simple random sampling from eight Kindergartens and eight primary school and the sample was allocated proportionally to the selected school. Data were entered using Epi-data version 3.1 then exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Descriptive statistics was done to all variables & linear regression was done to see mean difference and association of variables. P-value of less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant with 95% CI. Result: Out of the total of 396 participants in the study 388 were fully answered & give response rate of 97.9%. There was significant mean difference (p <0.001) in body fat mass among Moderate acute malnourished 3.969(±0.7810) and well-nourished children 5.537(±1.1097). On a multivariable linear regression, Age of the child, Fat free mass in kg and wealth index was negatively associated with body fat mass (β=-.126, P<0.05), (β=- .515P<0.001) and (β=-.132, P<0.05). Similarly, weight of child, nutritional status of child & marital status of mother, were significantly associated and increase body fat mass by .654 (β= .654, P<0.001), .412 (β=.412, P<0.001), and 1.359 (β= 1.359, P<0.05) respectively. Conclusion: The present study showed that the mean body fat mass among moderate acute malnourished children significantly lower than that of well-nourished children. The children’s body fat mass were significantly affected by Age of the child, Fat free mass in kg, wealth index, weight of child, nutritional status of child & marital stat