Prevalence and risk factors for chest-related symptoms of acute respiratory tract infections among under five children: Case of Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Acute respiratory infection is a major public health problem to morbidity and mortality among under five children. Globally it is estimated that about 7.6 million children were died before celebrating their fifth year of birth day attributed to respiratory tract infections, where 3.6 million deaths were in Africa and about 2.1 million deaths were in Southeast Asia. In Ethiopia acute respiratory infections are major problem accounting for about 10% of under-five deaths each year. Objective: This study was an attempt to study the prevalence and risk factors of acute respiratory infections in Ethiopia using data collected in Ethiopian demographic and health survey 2016. Methods: Descriptive statistics and multivariate binary logistic regression were used considering child characteristics, maternal socioeconomic, demographic characteristics, environmental and health factors variables as explanatory variables and symptoms of acute respiratory infection as the response variable. Results: Prevalence of acute respiratory infection among under-five children was 10.4%. Results of logistic regression analysis shows that place of residence, sex of household head, education level of mother, partners education, baby postnatal checkup, source of drinking water, age of a child in months, and working status of mother are found to be the significant risk factors for occurrence of ARI symptoms among under five children at 5% level of significance. While the variables sex of a child, availability of toilet facility, wealth index, age of mother at first birth, family size, and birth order of a child are not statistically significant at 5% level of significance. Conclusion: Children from rural areas and illiterate mothers are more at risk for acute respiratory infection. Thus, interventions should target mothers with less education and those residing in rural areas for better care for their children. *Correspondence to: Berhanu Teshome Woldeamanuel, Department of Statistics, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia, E-mail: berteshome19@gmail.com