Abstract
Background: Globally, diarrhoea is a major factor in child hospitalisation and rising mortality rates despite the fact that diarrhoea is both preventable and treatable. Despite a significant number of studies on the causes of diarrhoea, there are still gaps in our knowledge of the variables that affect the likelihood of diarrhoea and of the demographic factors that are important indicators of diarrhoea. This study set out to investigate the demographic factors associated with increased risk for diarrhoea in children under the age of five years admitted at Dora Nginza Hospital in 2018 and 2019. In addition, this study investigated anthropometry measurements and neurodevelopment status for the children, comparing diarrhoea and non-diarrhoea cases.
Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional design method and used secondary data from medical records for children admitted at Dora Nginza Hospital. The sample size was 419 and systemic random sampling techniques were applied. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software tool version 29 was used to analyze data. Descriptive statistics bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model was used to examine the relationship between the various demographic factors and the occurrence of diarrhoea.
Results: The prevalence of diarrhoea was 36% (n=392). When comparing between diarrhoea and diarrhoea cases, differences were noted in child gender, child age, maternal age, anthropometry measurements and neurodevelopment status. The most common demographic factors associated with diarrhoea were male gender (73%), child age ranges of 0-6 months (24%), 13-24 months (46%) and 25-36 months (14%), where n=141. Children aged 13-24 months had statistically significantly higher odds (OR=8) of being diagnosed with diarrhoea compared to children aged 49-60 months, followed by the age group of 25-36 months with OR of 6 (p=0.011). The differences for children of age 0-6 months were not statistically significant. Mothers (31-35 age group) had lower odds (0.114) for diarrhoea statistically significant (p = 0.040).
Conclusion: Demographic factors that influence the occurrence of diarrhoea were male gender, child aged 13-36 months, and maternal age of 31-35 years.