Ecological zone and symptoms of acute respiratory infection among children under five in Ghana: 1993–2014

Abstract

Since 1993, evidence suggest that a significant portion of Ghanaian under-five children have suffered from Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI). This study sought to examine the prevalence of ARI symptoms among under-fives across ecological zones as well as childhood and maternal factors associated with ARI between 1993 and 2014. We used data from Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys (1993–2014). The study sample included women of reproductive age who had under-five children experiencing a cough accompanied with short rapid breaths in the last two weeks preceding each of the surveys. Data were extracted and analysed using STATA version 14.2. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were done to establish the association between the explanatory and outcome variable. Among Coastal dwellers, the prevalence of reported ARI increased from 18.7% in 1993 to 36.5% in 2014. Increment occurred between 1993 (45.2%) and 2014 (47.3%) within the Middle zone. Between 1993 and 2014, reported ARI reduced from 36.1% to 16.2% among Savanna dwellers. In addition to ecological zone, place of residence, and survey year were associated with symptoms of childhood ARIs. The multivariate results showed that children whose mothers lived in rural areas [AOR = 1.54, CI = 1.21–1.97] and those born in survey wave 1998 [AOR = 1.59, CI = 1.24–2.04] had higher odds of reporting symptoms of ARI. The study findings have demonstrated the need for public health education and sensitization on ARI to be more specific and target women with children under-five who live in the Middle zone compared to those who live in other ecological zones.

Acute respiratory infection and its associated factors among children under-five years attending pediatrics ward at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia: institution-based cross-sectional study

“…Children from rural setup were more prone to develop ARI in the current study which is in line with several earlier studies [12,39,[44][45][46]. The probable justification for the greater ARI symptoms proportion for rural children may be due to lack of access to medical care, low socio-economic standards in rural regions [47] and most risk factors for ARI prevail in rural setup [48].…”

“…Several factors predispose children under five years of age for ARIs. These factors may be attributed to child factors such as age [11][12][13][14][15] and female sex [16], maternal factors such as lower age [11,13], unemployment [11,13] and lower educational status [16,17] environmental-related factors such as urban residence [17], rural residence [18], wet season [19][20][21] and co-morbid diseases [14,22,23]. There is a paucity of studies regarding the prevalence and associated factors of ARI among hospitalized under-five years children in Ethiopia even though few community-based cross-sectional studies [24][25][26] have been undertaken in to assess the prevalence and associated factors of ARIs among under-five years children.…”

Hubungan Antara Status Gizi Dengan Kejadian ISPA Pada Anak Usia Toddler (1-3 Tahun)

“…Penelitian ini menggunakan data dari Survei Demografi dan Kesehatan Ghana . Sampel penelitian termasuk wanita dari usia reproduksi yang memiliki anak balita dengan gejala batuk disertai nafas pendek yang cepat dalam dua minggu terakhir sebelum survei dilaksanakan (Seidu, Kwabena, Opoku, Baatiema, & Appiah, 2019).…”

Determinants of acute respiratory infection among under-five children in rural Ethiopia

“…The majority of factors of ARI occur in rural areas and among children under one year of age (Mirji et al 2014). Several studies showed that Children from rural setups were more prone to develop ARI [ 24 , 25 ]. The probable explanation for the greater ARI symptoms proportion for rural children may be due to lack of access to medical treatment, low socio-economic standards in rural regions [ 26 ].…”