Table 3 Unadjusted association between anaemia and environmental factors and other study covariates among children aged 6–59 months in Ethiopia, EDHS 2005–2016 (n = 21,918)

Environmental factors

Sanitation facility

 Improved

948 (8.9)

Ref

 Unimproved

4,572 (42.8)

1.09 (0.99–1.19)

0.059

 Open defecation

5,162 (48.3)

1.52 (1.39–1.67)

p < 0.001

Type of cooking fuel

 Clean fuels

135 (1.3)

Ref

 Solid fuels

10,547 (98.7)

1.34 (1.09–1.64)

0.005

Housing status

 Built from finished materials

175 (1.6)

Ref

 Built from natural or unfinished materials

10,638 (98.4)

1.38 (1.20–1.58)

p < 0.001

Source of drinking water

 Improved

4,788 (44.8)

Ref

 Unimproved

5,893 (55.2)

1.24 (1.16–1.32)

p < 0.001

Time to get a water source

 On-premise

637 (5.9)

Ref

  ≤ 30 min

6,046 (55.9)

1.13 (1.02–1.25)

0.017

 31–60 min

2,385 (22.1)

1.27 (1.14–1.43)

p < 0.001

  > 60 min

1,745 (16.1)

1.48 (1.32–1.66)

p < 0.001

Child factors

Sex

 Male

5,547 (51.3)

Ref

 Female

5,267 (48.7)

0.95 (0.90–1.01)

0.092

Age (months)

 6–11

1,676 (15.5)

3.09 (2.79–3.41)

p < 0.001

 12–23

2,961 (27.4)

2.81 (2.60–3.04)

p < 0.001

 24–35

2,308 (21.4)

1.72 (1.59–1.85)

p < 0.001

 36–59

3,851 (35.7)

Ref

Birth interval

 7- 33 months

7,594 (70.2)

Ref

  ≥ 33 months

3,219 (29.8)

0.88 (0.83–0.94)

p < 0.001

Size of a child at birth

 Larger

3,532 (32.7)

Ref

 Average

4,229 (39.2)

0.99 (0.93–1.07)

0.995

 Small

3,025 (28.1)

1.17 (1.08–1.26)

p < 0.001

Currently breastfeeding

 Yes

8,102 (74.9)

Ref

 No

2,712 (25.1)

0.71 (0.67–0.76)

p < 0.001

Full vaccination

 Yes

2,013 (22.9)

Ref

 No

6,781 (77.1)

1.25 (1.16–1.34)

p < 0.001

Diarrhoea

 Yes

1,776 (16.4)

1.36 (1.25–1.47)

p < 0.001

 No

9,028 (83.6)

Ref

Received deworming medication in the last 6 months

 Yes

1,303 (12.1)

Ref

 No

9,510 (87.9)

1.36 (1.25–1.49)

p < 0.001

Iron supplementation

 Yes

652 (6.0)

Ref

 No

10,161 (94.0)

1.07 (0.95–1.19)

0.248

Vitamin A last 6 months

 Yes

5,106 (48.1)

Ref

 No

5,509 (51.9)

1.22 (1.15–1.30)

p < 0.001

Parental factors

Mother's age

 15–18

56 (0.5)

1.41 (0.94–2.13)

0.096

 18–24

2,452 (21.3)

1.23 (1.13–1.34)

p < 0.001

 25–34

5,684 (52.6)

1.09 (1.02–1.78)

0.008

 35–49

2,621 (25.6)

Ref

Mother's education

 No education

7,730 (71.5)

1.21 (1.14–1.29)

p < 0.001

 Primary and above

3,083 (28.5)

Ref

Mother's currently working

 Yes

3,137 (29.0)

Ref

 No

7,675 (71.0)

1.27 (1.19–1.35)

p < 0.001

Maternal stature

 Normal/Tall (> = 155 cm)

6,663 (61.6)

Ref

 Short (145 to 154.9 cm)

3,861 (35.7)

0.98 (0.92–1.04)

0.500

 Very short (< 145 cm)

289 (2.7)

1.01 (0.82–1.24)

0.901

Maternal BMI (kg/m²)

  < 18.5

2,437 (22.5)

Ref

 18.5 to 24.9

7,909 (73.2)

0.79 (0.74–0.84)

p < 0.001

 25 + 

463 (4.3)

0.68 (0.60–0.78)

p < 0.001

Listening to radio

 Yes

3,824 (35.4)

Ref

 Not at all

6,985 (64.4)

1.35 (1.27–1.44)

p < 0.001

Watching television

 Yes

2,076 (19.2)

Ref

 Not at all

8,729 (80.8)

1.51 (1.41–1.63)

p < 0.001

Household factors

Wealth index

 Poor

5,352 (49.5)

1.68 (1.56–1.79)

p < 0.001

 Middle

2,224 (20.6)

1.21 (1.10–1.32)

p < 0.001

 Rich

3,237 (29.9)

Ref

Community-level characteristics

Residence

 Urban

915 (8.5)

Ref

 Rural

9,898 (91.5)

1.56 (1.43–1.70)

p < 0.001

Region

 Agrarian

5,209 (48.1)

Ref

 Pastoralist

5,392 (49.9)

1.61 (1.49–1.74)

p < 0.001

 City administration

213 (1.9)

1.05 (0.96–1.16)

0.281

EDHS

 2005

2,029 (18.8)

0.56 (0.51–0.61)

p < 0.001

 2011

3,964 (36.7)

0.55 (0.52–0.59)

p < 0.001

 2016

4,820 (44.5)

Ref