Fetal malnutrition and its predictors among term newborns in southern Ethiopia: a multicenter cross-sectional study

Introduction: Low and middle-income countries suffer from a high burden of undernutrition. Fetal malnutrition negatively impacts a newborn's body composition, metabolism, and enzymatic processes, predisposing the newborn to malnutrition during childhood period. This study aims to assess the magnitude of fetal malnutrition and its predictors in southern Ethiopia. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 423 pairs of mother and term newborn delivered from February 1- 28, 2025, at five randomly selected public hospitals in southern Ethiopia. The Clinical Assessment of Nutrition (CAN) Score is used to assess fetal malnutrition. Logistic regression was employed to ident