Risk factors for acute respiratory tract infections in under-five children in Enugu Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

Background:Acute respiratory tract infections (ARIs) constitute the major causes of mortality and morbidity among under-five children of the developing world. The prevalence of ARIs is determined individually or collectively by a number of factors which may be prevalent in our environment.Aim:The present study is aimed to determine the risk factors that affect the prevalence of ARIs in under-five children in Enugu.Subjects and Methods:A cross-sectional study of 436 under-five children diagnosed with ARI was carried out in three hospitals in Enugu. Participants were consecutively enrolled after being diagnosed as a case of ARI. Structured pro foma was used to collect sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric data and risk profile. Data were analyzed using Epi info version 6.0 and significant probability value was 5%.Results:A total of 436 patients were enrolled for the study 224 males and 212 females M: F 1.06:1. The mean age of the population was 18.75(13.38) months and there were 31.6%(138/436) cases of pneumonia 6.9%(30/436) cases of bronchiolitis and 61.5%(268/436) cases of acute upper respiratory tract infections. Children less than 20 months accounted for 60.9% (84/138 cases) of pneumonia, 86.7% (26/30 cases) of bronchiolitis, and 64.5% (173/268 cases) of acute upper respiratory tract infections. Pneumonia was noted in about 75.7% (56/74) of inadequately nourished children compared to 22.6% (82/362) in adequately nourished children. Other risk factors identified in the study include inadequate breast feeding, poor immunization statues, attendance to daycare centers, large family size, poor parental educational statues, parental smoking, living in the urban area and use of biofuels.Conclusion:ARIs are affected by socio-demographic and socio-cultural risk factors, which can be modified with simple strategies. It is recommended that control program for ARIs should be multifaceted with a strong political will.

Burden of Acute Respiratory Tract Infections as Seen in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital Nigeria

“…Most cases of ARIs seen in our study were upper respiratory tract infections which is consistent with the reports by other authors [9]. The cases of pneumonia seen in our review was comparable to the findings by Acharya et al [9] and Zaman et al [10] in South India [18] in Enugu. This difference may the due to the differences in the methodology.…”

“…Our study was a retrospective review of all ARI cases seen at the ARI clinic of the UPTH (University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital) and therefore some cases of pneumonia seen at the emergency ward were not included while the study by Ujunwa and Ezeonu [18] was a prospective study carried out in 3 hospitals in Enugu metropolis and only children less than 5 years were recruited in their study. In our study, most of the children presenting with ARI were under five years of age with most of them being infants which is similar to the findings by other authors [16,18,21]. This may be attributed to the fact that younger children are less immune competent compared to the older children and are therefore more likely to get infected.…”

“…The risk factors for ARIs have been highlighted in various studies to be diverse due to differences in living conditions and other environmental factors [14,[16][17][18][19]. Studies in developing countries have reported that nutritional factors ,overcrowding, parental smoking were associated with ARI [17,18] while in developed countries gender, maternal education, exposure to childcare, preschool, family income and private health insurance have been reported to have an association with ARI amongst children [16,19].…”

“…Studies in developing countries have reported that nutritional factors ,overcrowding, parental smoking were associated with ARI [17,18] while in developed countries gender, maternal education, exposure to childcare, preschool, family income and private health insurance have been reported to have an association with ARI amongst children [16,19].…”

Determinants and Spatial Modeling of Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) Among Children Less Than Five Years in Kenya

“…This is also consistent with a similar study carried out in Kenya by which reported that the prevalence of ARI was higher in children living in urban areas as compared to these living in rural areas. The significance of these three variables in relation to ARI was also reported and supported by [10] who carried out an analysis of risk factors for Acute Respiratory Tract Infection (ARTI) in children less than 5 years in Enugu south east of Nigeria.…”