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Prevalence of Geohelminthic Infection and Its Risk Factors Among School Children in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Introduction Geohelminthic infections are the most common infections worldwide and affect the poorest and most deprived communities. School-age children typically have the highest intensity of worm infection. Currently, information on the prevalence of geohelminthic infestations among schoolchildren...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Cureus
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9946816/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36843715 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.34116 |
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author | K, Puhalenthi C, Chandrababu S, Maniprabhu K, Vijayakumar Mathew, Thomas SS, Mini |
author_facet | K, Puhalenthi C, Chandrababu S, Maniprabhu K, Vijayakumar Mathew, Thomas SS, Mini |
author_sort | K, Puhalenthi |
collection | PubMed |
description | Introduction Geohelminthic infections are the most common infections worldwide and affect the poorest and most deprived communities. School-age children typically have the highest intensity of worm infection. Currently, information on the prevalence of geohelminthic infestations among schoolchildren is scarce in Kerala. As a result, it would be worthwhile to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of a geohelminthic infestation among schoolchildren in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district. Materials and methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 454 primary school children (5-10 years) in the Thiruvananthapuram district. Samples were selected by stratified multi-stage sampling, and the data were collected using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. The stool examination was performed for each study subject, and the data were recorded. Results The overall prevalence of geohelminthic infections was 9.69% (95% confidence interval: 5.62-14.61), with Ascaris (A.) lumbricoides accounting for 5.7%, Trichuris (T.) trichiura accounting for 3.3%, and hookworm accounting for 0.7%. Children residing in rural areas (odds ratio (OR): 40.16; 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.28-305.3), studying in government schools (OR: 3.06 with 95% CI: 1.55-6.05), and using piped water as a source of drinking water (OR: 1.96; 95% CI: 1.01-3.77) were found to be significant and had emerged as risk factors for geohelminthic infestation. Children wearing footwear while playing outside (OR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.39-1.5) and having personal hygiene class in school (OR: 0.34; 95% CI: 0.14-0.83) were found to be significant and had emerged as protective factors for geohelminthic infestations. Conclusion The prevalence of geohelminthic infestations among schoolchildren in this study was 9.7%. The individual species prevalence of A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and hookworm were 5.7%, 3.3%, and 0.7%, respectively. In addition to geohelminthic infestation, this study discovered a prevalence of 0.9% with Enterobius vermicularis. The factors found to be significantly associated with geohelminthic infestation after doing multivariate analysis were children belonging to government schools, residing in rural areas, and using piped water as a source of drinking water. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9946816 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Cureus |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-99468162023-02-24 Prevalence of Geohelminthic Infection and Its Risk Factors Among School Children in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India K, Puhalenthi C, Chandrababu S, Maniprabhu K, Vijayakumar Mathew, Thomas SS, Mini Cureus Internal Medicine Introduction Geohelminthic infections are the most common infections worldwide and affect the poorest and most deprived communities. School-age children typically have the highest intensity of worm infection. Currently, information on the prevalence of geohelminthic infestations among schoolchildren is scarce in Kerala. As a result, it would be worthwhile to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of a geohelminthic infestation among schoolchildren in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district. Materials and methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 454 primary school children (5-10 years) in the Thiruvananthapuram district. Samples were selected by stratified multi-stage sampling, and the data were collected using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. The stool examination was performed for each study subject, and the data were recorded. Results The overall prevalence of geohelminthic infections was 9.69% (95% confidence interval: 5.62-14.61), with Ascaris (A.) lumbricoides accounting for 5.7%, Trichuris (T.) trichiura accounting for 3.3%, and hookworm accounting for 0.7%. Children residing in rural areas (odds ratio (OR): 40.16; 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.28-305.3), studying in government schools (OR: 3.06 with 95% CI: 1.55-6.05), and using piped water as a source of drinking water (OR: 1.96; 95% CI: 1.01-3.77) were found to be significant and had emerged as risk factors for geohelminthic infestation. Children wearing footwear while playing outside (OR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.39-1.5) and having personal hygiene class in school (OR: 0.34; 95% CI: 0.14-0.83) were found to be significant and had emerged as protective factors for geohelminthic infestations. Conclusion The prevalence of geohelminthic infestations among schoolchildren in this study was 9.7%. The individual species prevalence of A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and hookworm were 5.7%, 3.3%, and 0.7%, respectively. In addition to geohelminthic infestation, this study discovered a prevalence of 0.9% with Enterobius vermicularis. The factors found to be significantly associated with geohelminthic infestation after doing multivariate analysis were children belonging to government schools, residing in rural areas, and using piped water as a source of drinking water. Cureus 2023-01-23 /pmc/articles/PMC9946816/ /pubmed/36843715 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.34116 Text en Copyright © 2023, K et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Internal Medicine K, Puhalenthi C, Chandrababu S, Maniprabhu K, Vijayakumar Mathew, Thomas SS, Mini Prevalence of Geohelminthic Infection and Its Risk Factors Among School Children in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
title | Prevalence of Geohelminthic Infection and Its Risk Factors Among School Children in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
title_full | Prevalence of Geohelminthic Infection and Its Risk Factors Among School Children in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
title_fullStr | Prevalence of Geohelminthic Infection and Its Risk Factors Among School Children in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
title_full_unstemmed | Prevalence of Geohelminthic Infection and Its Risk Factors Among School Children in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
title_short | Prevalence of Geohelminthic Infection and Its Risk Factors Among School Children in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
title_sort | prevalence of geohelminthic infection and its risk factors among school children in thiruvananthapuram, kerala, india |
topic | Internal Medicine |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9946816/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36843715 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.34116 |
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