Socioeconomic and Nutritional Status of Children with Pyodermas

Abstract

Introduction: Although adults are affected by pyodermas, they are commonly seen in school going children. Children usually acquire infections through contacts either from other children or with fomites. Low socioeconomic status, poor personal hygiene, undernutrition and immunosuppresion interplay with each other and predispose children to pyodermas.Objectives: This study was conducted to find out the socioeconomic status and nutritional profile of children with pyoderma and their association with recurrence of disease. Materials and Methods:This was a hospital based cross-sectional study carried out for one year. Newly diagnosed cases of pyoderma in children less than 14 years were enrolled for the study. Kuppuswamy scale was used to evaluate the socio-economic status of the families. Weight was taken as the indicator of nutrition and compared with the norm set up by the Indian Association of Pediatrics (IAP). Data were fed into STATA v. 11.1 and we found out the risk between the recurrence of disease and the socioeconomic and nutritional status of the children by calculating prevalence risk ratios.Results: Out of 107 children with pyoderma included in this study, there were 64 (59.8%) males and 43 (40.2%) females and the male to female ratio was 1.48:1. Children who belonged to lower socioeconomic strata (lower, upper-lower and lower-middle socio-economic groups) constituted almost 74% of the study population. According to the IAP standard, the nutritional status of a significant proportion (23.4%) of children with pyoderma was below the norm. There were significant risks of having recurrence of disease in children with lower socioeconomic status (p=0.014) and lower nutritional status (p=0.028). Conclusion:This study highlights the presence of poor socioeconomic and nutritional status in children with pyodermas. Persistence of these factors may also lead to recurrence of the disease. This study opens avenues to conduct further large studies to investigate and address these issues.

A Clinical and Bacteriological Study of Primary Pyodermas in Children

“…5,6,7 This susceptibility to bacterial infections in this age group is due to the decreased immunity to infective agents. The male-to-female sex ratio of 1.94: 1 is similar to that observed by Kharel C et al 8 showing slight male preponderance. Majority of the children (64%) was from low socio-economic status, which was also similar to previous similar studies.…”

“…Majority of the children (64%) was from low socio-economic status, which was also similar to previous similar studies. 7,8 Poor hygiene and low standards of living are obviously the predisposing factors of pyoderma in children. However, the observation of good personal hygiene in all the 100 cases stands in contrary to this in this particular study.…”

Relation of Sociodemographics and Personal Hygiene on Different Childhood Dermatoses

“…[11][12] There have been few studies which demonstrate the influence of sociodemographic factors and personal hygiene on skin disease in Nepal. [13][14][15] The commonest age for presentation was between 1-5 years. Similar finding was found in others studies.…”

Relation between Risk Factors of Pyoderma and Pyoderma Incidence

“…Low socioeconomic level can also cause a person to live in unhygienic home and crowded environment. 6 Previous study stated that most of the subjects who suffered pyoderma lived in unhygienic house or environment (43.3%) and had poor personal hygiene (66.7%). 7 Poor personal hygiene facilitates colonization, infection, and transmission of Staphylococcus aureus, as a causative organism of pyoderma.…”

“…2,3,5 Factors influencing pyoderma are low education, low socioeconomic level, low personal hygiene and unhealthy house. 2,6,7 Low levels education may contribute to the low level of socio-economic families. 8 Pyoderma is more frequent on the lower social-economic class.…”