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

Abstract

Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) continue to be the most important cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children. Some demographic and environmental factors are associated with ARIs among under-five children. This study was conducted with the objective to estimate the prevalence of ARIs among under-five children in the rural areas and densely populated urban slum areas in Maharashtra, India and to assess the association of the selected sociodemographic and household environmental factors with ARI. This study was conducted in 16 selected clusters from the rural areas and densely populated urban slum areas of the two districts in Maharashtra, India. Structured and validated proforma was used for collecting the data on the sociodemographic and household environmental risk factors. A total of 3,671 under-five children were surveyed. The prevalence of ARIs for the preceding month was 50.4%. It was higher among the children living in the rural areas (54.2%) compared to the children living in the urban areas (46.7%) (p = 0.01). The prevalence of ARIs was reported to be 51.4 and 49.4% in boys and girls, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, the researchers found that living in rural areas (p = 0.01) and parental smoking (p = 0.04) were significantly associated with the ARIs. An intervention such as reducing parental smoking habits at the household level may reduce ARIs.

Geographical weighted regression analysis of hotspots of acute respiratory infection and its associated factors among under- five children in Ethiopia, spatial and multilevel analysis

“…On the other hand, the proportion is lower than other studies conducted in Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (27.3%) [21], Northwest Ethiopia (19.2%) [22], Wolaita Sodo [23], Dessie (42.82%) [24], Uganda (40.3%) [25], rural India (59.1%) [26], and India (50%) [27]. A possible reason for this variation might be the differences in study populations, study settings, age categories of study participants, method used to ascertain the outcome variable, comorbidities, variations in the study period, and season of the study.…”

“…Flu, viruses, and bacteria are more likely to remain stable in the air as the temperature decreases, creating respiratory droplets and causing damage to the airways, allowing bacteria to produce infections, most often ARI in the lungs. Another explanation might be that many of the children in these areas were under the age of 1 year, and the majority of these homes relied on charcoal and cow dung for re [27,28]. Among women who had attended secondary education, acute respiratory infection was reduced compared to that in women who had no education.…”

Differentials in the Prevalence of Acute Respiratory Infections Among Under-Five Children: An Analysis of 37 Sub-Saharan Countries

“…23 , 24 Aside Cameroon which has 1% prevalence of ARI among the under-5 children, other studied countries had higher prevalence of the ARI but not as high as have been reported by studies in Nigeria, 25 Ethiopia 18 and another that comprised some African countries 7 as well as from a Nepalese 26 and an Indian studies. 27 The discoveries could be explained by inadequate wealth-related and education status of mothers, insufficient supply of water, the prevalence of communicable diseases, and poor nutrition knowledge, that are more predominant in many Sub-Saharan countries when compared to their developed counterparts.…”

Acute respiratory infections in children under-five years because of the smoking parents: Literature review

“…The presence of smokers in the house can cause recurrent ARI occurrences in toddlers. Supported by the results of research which states that cigarette smoke has a strong effect on the lungs of children under five, especially those who spend a lot of time indoors, causing an increased risk of recurrent ARI [30]. Research results Teijeiro, A., Cuello, M. N., et al [31] also showed that in the first 12 months 33% of 1062 children under five experienced a recurrence of cough.…”