Prevalence of diaper rash and associated factors among babies aged 0 to 24 months in Adama Administrative City, Central Ethiopia: A cross sectional study

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of diaper rash and identify associated factors with diaper rash among children between 0 and 24 months of age in Adama Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted with mothers using structured questionaries during face to face interview to assess risk factors associated with diaper rash. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 and Chi-square test was used to establish the association between diaper rash and socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics at p-value <0.05. Multivariate logistic regressions are used to test the significancy of risk factors. About 62.5% (235/376) of children in the study had experienced diaper rash. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that diarrhea (AOR=0.424; 95%CI=0.203-0.902; P=0.032), food types consumed by baby (AOR=0.21; 95%CI=0.050-0.882; P=0.033), use of barrier cream (AOR=0.012; 95%CI: 0.005-0.029; P=0.000) and frequency of diaper change (AOR=3.174; 95% CI=0.068-9.438; P=0.038) were among factors associated with diaper rash. In this study changing diaper frequently, using cream and breast feeding with baby formula milk were identified as a factor that reduce the prevalence of diaper rash whereas diarrhea was identified as a risk factor that aggravate diaper rash. Thus, educating mothers on the importance of breast feeding, use of cream and diaper change is useful.  Key words: Diaper rash, prevalence, babies.