The importance of hand hygiene education on primary schoolgirls’ absence due to upper respiratory infections in Saudi Arabia: A cluster randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES: To quantify the reduction in absence due to upper respiratory infections (URIs) among primary schoolgirls attending Riyadh’s schools after delivering a hand hygiene workshop intervention over a period of 5 weeks. METHODS: A cluster randomized trial was conducted among girls attending 4 primary schools between January and March 2018. The participants attended a hand hygiene workshop. The schoolgirls’ absences were followed up for 5 weeks. Incidence rate, percentage of absence days, and absence rate were calculated for total and URIs absences. RESULT: Total number of participating schoolgirls was 496. Upper respiratory infections accounted for 15.3% of absence episodes. Schoolgirls lost 521 days of school and 19.4% of them were URIs-related. Absence rate due to URIs were 12.4 and 23.4 as well as 5.62 and 11.72 per 100 schoolgirls in the control (CG) and experimental (EG) groups, respectively. Percentage of absence days were lower in the experimental group (CG: 0.86% and 1.39% versus EG: 0.39% and 0.72%). Incidence rates of absence due to URIs were 0.54 and 1.02 in CG versus 0.24 and 0.51 in EG per 100 schoolgirls per day. CONCLUSION: There could be further reduction in school absences if education was accompanied by hand soap dissemination. The study could serve as a pilot for major studies in the future. Sustainability of the intervention can be tested in studies with longer durations.