Prevalence and Risk Factor Analysis of Acute Respiratory tract Infections in Rural areas of Kashmir valley under 5 Years of Age

Abstract

Research Question: How important is acute respiratory tract infections in children less than 5 years of age and what are the main factors that need attention. Objective: To determine the magnitude of ARI under 5 years of age in rural areas of Kashmir valley. 2) To identify various risk factors responsible for ARI. Methodology: Community based Cross sectional study using multistage sampling procedure was used to study 1644 children. A house to house survey was carried out in the defined geographical region in order to determine the prevalence and risk factors of ARI less than 5 years of age. Results: Among 1644 children under 5 years of age studied, 886 (53.89%) were males and 758 (46.11%) female. An overall prevalence of 21.41% under 5 years of age was observed in a Kashmir valley. The prevalence of ARI varied according to the age of child being 19.3% in age group of 0-1 years, 23.0% in 1-3 years and 20.4% in age group of 3-5 years. Prevalence of ARI was more (22.5%) in male children as compared to female (20.05%) children [P>0.05]. The socio demographic variables that showed a significant relationship with ARI prevalence were parental literacy status (OR = 1.806; CI = 1.333 -2.447; P < 0.05) and more so the Mother's literacy status (OR = 1.635; CI = 1.284 -2.083; P < 0.05). ARI risk being high among Malnourished children (OR = 2.38; CI = 1.804 -3.157; P<0.05), inappropriately immunized children (OR=2.41; CI = 1.853 -3.154, P<0.05), children lacking exclusive Breast feeding (OR = 4.854; CI = 3.735 -6.309; P< 0.05) or put on early or delayed weaning (OR = 1.66; CI = 1.302 -2.140; P < 0.05). Environmental / housing variables also showed significant association with ARI with risk being high in children living in poor ventilation (OR = 4.865; CI = 3.78 -6.259; P < 0.05), overcrowded houses (OR = 1.829; CI = 1.442 -2.320; P < 0.05), houses with kitchen not separate (OR = 1.829, CI = 1.442 -5.481, P < 0.05), and using cooking fuel other than LPG (OR = 2.063; CI = 1.615-2.634; P < 0.05) Conclusion: Besides sensitizing mothers on childhood nutritional (exclusive breast feeding and early / delayed weaning) and immunization the role of environmental /housing variables (Poor ventilation, over crowding, combined kitchen and use of cooking fuel other than LPG) need attention.

Prevalence of the Acute Respiratory Infections and Associated Factors in the Rural Areas and Urban Slum Areas of Western Maharashtra, India: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…Generally, education helps to improve the knowledge of maternal caretaking with respect to the risk factors responsible for ARIs, but this study revealed no difference in the prevalence of ARIs in the children born to mothers with varied educational levels. This was in contrast to the results of many studies ( 1 , 10 , 17 , 19 ), which have shown a higher prevalence of ARIs in the children born to mothers with primary education levels compared to those born to highly educated mothers.…”

“…ARI is the third most common individual cause of death in both developed and developing countries ( 1 ). The prevalence of ARI reported by the various studies ranges from 20 to 30% ( 7 , 19 , 20 ). This study found the prevalence of ARI to be 50.4% among under-five children which is similar to the other studies ( 6 , 11 ).…”

“…There may be several reasons, such as pets in the family and history of ARI in the family members, which the authors did not substantiate. A few studies reported that the children living in homes with poor ventilation in the rural areas developed more ARIs compared to the children living in the homes with poor ventilation in the urban areas ( 1 , 4 , 7 , 19 ). Under-five children living in houses with inadequate ventilation contract more ARIs compared to under-five children living in well-ventilated houses because a lack of ventilation implies that indoor smoke is trapped and the toxic components accumulate in the houses and affect the respiratory systems of the children, leading to the development of ARIs ( 21 ).…”

Determinants of acute respiratory infection (ARI) among under-five children in rural areas of Legambo District, South Wollo Zone, Ethiopia: A matched case–control study

“…Acute malnutrition was significantly associated with childhood ARI in this study. Studies from India have previously highlighted nutritional status as being a significant risk factor for childhood ARI, with 2.4-to 7.1-fold increased odds of ARI in those who are malnourished (Goel et al, 2012;Mir et al, 2012;Arun et al, 2014;Naik et al, 2016). This may be because malnutrition predisposes to an immunodeficient state, which increases the risk of respiratory infections.…”

“…On average, under-five children suffer about four to five episodes of ARI per year. ARI is responsible for approximately 30-50% of visits to health facilities and accounts for 20-40% of under-five hospital admissions (Mir et al, 2012). From an estimated 10.4 million deaths among under-five children worldwide, 73% were attributable to ARIs (Anjum et al, 2017).…”