Acute respiratory tract infection among preschool children in Western Maharashtra, India

Background: Malnutrition and infectious diseases both occur in the same unfortunate children and together they play a major role in causing the high morbidity and mortality in them.In developing countries, mortality from ARTI is 30?70 times higher than in developed countries and it has been estimated that up to 1/3 rd of all deaths in children less than 5 years are attributed to ARTI. Aims & Objectives: This study aimed to find the attack rate of Acute Respiratory Tract infection and the socio?demographic variables of pre?school children suffering from Acute Respiratory Tract infections. Method: A Comparative Longitudinal study was carried out among preschool children (3?5 years) who were selected from Private pre?primary school of urban area (155)& Anganwadis (157) of urban slum area of karad town and followed for the period of one year. Mother/guardian/teacher was interviewed by using pre?tested proforma during this period. Results & Interpretation: out of all 97.4% of private pre?primary school children had 1.8 episodes/child/year of ARTI compared to Anganwadi children where all of them had 2.5 episodes/child/year of ARTI. Conclusion: Maximum number of children from private pre?primary schools from urban area also suffered with at least one episode of Acute Respiratory Tract Infection compared to Anganwadi children from urban slum areas. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v5i4.10044 Asian Journal of Medical Sciences 2014 Vol.5(4); 34-38