Risk factors for acute diarrhoea in children between 0 and 23 months of age in a peri-urban district of Pakistan: A matched case-control study

Authors

Kamran Sadiq, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Fatima Mir, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Uswa Jiwani, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Suhail Chanar, Aga Khan University
Apsara Ali Nathwani, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Muhammad Jawwad, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Amjad Hussain, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Arjumand Rizvi, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Shah Muhammad, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Muhammad Atif Habib, Aga Khan UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Department

Paediatrics and Child Health; Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health

Abstract

Background: Diarrhoea is a leading cause of preventable childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. Unfortunately, Pakistan has the third-highest burden of diarrhoea-related deaths in children <5 y of age. Therefore we aimed to evaluate factors associated with diarrhoea among Pakistani children.
Methods: A retrospective 1:2 matched case-control study nested in a baseline cross-sectional survey was conducted from October to December 2018 in Taluka Kotri, a two-thirds urban locality in the Jamshoro district. Children between the ages of 0 and 23 months with a history of diarrhoea in the 2 weeks preceding the survey were labelled as cases. Age-matched controls were children without symptoms of diarrhoea. Univariate and multivariable conditional logistic regression was performed to identify diarrhoea-related factors.
Results: A total of 1558 cases were matched with 3116 controls. Factors significantly associated with lower odds of diarrhoea in the multivariate analysis included increasing maternal age (odds ratio [OR] 0.78 [95% confidence interval {CI} 0.67 to 0.90]), breastfeeding (OR 0.77 [95% CI 0.66 to 0.90]), higher paternal education (OR 0.79 [95% CI 0.65 to 0.97]) and belonging to the rich (OR 0.66 [95% CI 0.54 to 0.80]) and richest quintiles (OR 0.54 [95% CI 0.44 to 0.66]).
Conclusions: This study identifies risk factors associated with diarrhoea in children <23 months of age, including younger maternal age, higher paternal education, not breastfeeding and poverty, which has implications for developing preventive programs and strategies that target populations with a higher risk of diarrhoea.

Comments

Volume, issue, and pagination are not provided by the author/publisher

Publication (Name of Journal)

International health

Recommended Citation

Sadiq, K., Mir, F., Jiwani, U., Chanar, S., Nathwani, A. A., Jawwad, M., Hussain, A., Rizvi, A., Muhammad, S., Habib, M. A. (2022). Risk factors for acute diarrhoea in children between 0 and 23 months of age in a peri-urban district of Pakistan: A matched case-control study. International health.
Available at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_fhs_mc_women_childhealth_paediatr/1168

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.