Prevalence of Neurolathyrism and its associated factors in Grass pea cultivation areas of Dawunt District, North-eastern Ethiopia; 2022: a community based multilevel analysis

Abstract

Abstract Introduction : Neurolathyrism is an upper motor neuron disorder characterized by spastic paraparesis, which is caused by the prolonged over-consumption of grass pea. It is a devastating disease with great impacts on physical, social, mental, and economical health. Objective To determine the prevalence of neurolathyrism and its associated factors in grass pea cultivation areas of Dawunt wereda. Methods Community based cross-sectional study design was conducted from February 01- March 30, 2021 on 631 Households with a total of 3,350 individuals. Two-stage random sampling technique was used to select participants. Multilevel binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with neurolathyrism. Statistical significance was declared at p 3:1) (AOR = 6.1 (1.1, 33.5)) were the household level variables found to have significant association with neurolathyrism. Conclusion The prevalence of neurolathyrism was found to be high. Ever feeding only grass pea, Grass pea to other cereals mixing ratio (using ratio of 1:1 or more), and Ever feeding immature grass pea seeds were the modifiable risk factors for neurolathyrism.

Keywords

• Neurolathyrism
• Prevalence
• Dawunt
• Ethiopia