Abstract
Maternal malnutrition is pervasive throughout the world, notably in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess the effect of nutrition education on the nutritional status of pregnant women in urban settings in Southeast Ethiopia. A community-based two-arm parallel cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted among 447 randomly selected pregnant women attending antenatal care (224 intervention and 223 control). We used a multistage cluster sampling technique followed by systematic sampling to select the pregnant women. Pregnant women who participated in the intervention arm received six nutrition education sessions. Women in the control group received standard care. A nonstretchable mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) tape was used to measure the MUAC. A linear mixed effects model (LMM) was used to evaluate the effect of the intervention on MUAC, accounting for the clustering. The net mean ± standard error of MUAC between the intervention and control groups was 0.59 ± 0.05 (P < 0.0001). The multivariable LMM indicated that having received nutrition education interventions (β = 0.85, 95% CI 0.60, 1.12, P < 0.0001) improved the MUAC measurement of pregnant women. Thus, nutrition education during pregnancy will combat undernutrition among pregnant women.Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov (PACTR202201731802989), retrospectively registered on 24/01/2022.