Magnitude of acute respiratory infections in under five.
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1993-11-01
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A community-based study was carried out in a rural area of Delhi to measure the prevalence and incidence of acute respiratory infections among children below the age of 5 years. The prevalence of 12.1%, was similar in boys and girls and was seen to decline with age. The incidence of acute respiratory infections was 2.5 episodes per child per year; it was not different in boys and girls. There was a statistically significant decline in the incidence with age. Upper respiratory tract infections comprised 87.5% of total acute respiratory infection morbidity while lower respiratory tract infections were 12.5%. Both upper and lower respiratory tract infections declined with increasing age; while the former was similar among boys and girls, the incidence of latter was significantly greater in boys (0.4 episodes per year) as compared to girls (0.2 episodes per year). A total of 87.5% episodes were mild, 10.4% moderate and only 2.1% were severe. The results suggest that acute respiratory infections are a major community health problem and an acute respiratory infection control programme needs to be implemented urgently.
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Chhabra P, Garg S, Mittal SK, Satyanarayan L, Mehra M, Sharma N. Magnitude of acute respiratory infections in under five. Indian Pediatrics. 1993 Nov; 30(11): 1315-9