Respiratory Morbidities among Children in a Grass Root Level Hospital in Bangladesh

Children mostly suffer from respiratory illnesses around the world. Situation is not different in Bangladesh as suggested by many studies on childhood illness. But most of these studies have been done in tertiary level hospitals located in urban areas and very few were done in rural setting. This study was conducted to estimate the frequency and to determine the pattern of respiratory morbidity among children and also to assess the impact of passive smoking on the magnitude of acute respiratory tract infections (ARI) among children. This was an observational study. It was carried out on 1002 children over a period of about 180 days, who attended the Tungipara Upazila Health Complex (UHC), Gopalganj, Bangladesh between January 2018 and June 2018. Data were collected through face to face interview, physical examination, relevant investigations and collected data in the questionnaire for respiratory illness and others then respiratory data were not collected. Out of 1002 children, more then half (54%) were male and the age range was new born to 168 months. Among them upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) were 98.5% as against only 1.5% of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). In this study, 38% fathers were smoker and no mother found as smoker. Families of 63% patients used smoke producing substances for cooking. Respiratory illness was more prevalent among the children whose fathers used to smoke tobacco χ2 (1) 380 P 0.01. As well as babies more vulnerable for respiratory morbidity where smoke producing fuel used for cooking χ2 (1) 170 P 0.01. Children suffered more from diseases affecting the respiratory system than diseases of other systems. Simple cough related illness was the most common URTI. Under 05 children suffered most. Respiratory illness was more common among those whose fathers smoked tobacco. Children were more vulnerable to respiratory morbidity, where smoke producing fuel used for cooking. There need multicentric study to observe the real picture of respiratory morbidity. Bangladesh Med J. 2019 Jan; 48 (1): 1-4

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Association of Father's Smoking and Neonatal Respiratory Morbidities

Bangladesh Medical Journal ◽

10.3329/bmj.v49i2.55817 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 49 (2) ◽

pp. 30-33

Author(s):

Rahat Bin Habib ◽

ARM Luthful Kabir ◽

Sunirmal Roy ◽

Md Kamrul Ahsan Khan ◽

Muzibur Rahman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Respiratory Tract ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Respiratory Illness ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Respiratory Morbidity ◽

Upper Respiratory Tract ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Grass Root ◽

Tract Infections ◽

The Impact

First 28 days are the most vulnerable period for every neonate. Children usually suffered from respiratory illness. Therefore it is important to observe the prevalence of neonatal respiratory sickness. However, the disease profile among the neonates in rural areas is not exactly known. Many fathers in the rural area used smoke-producing tobacco. Therefore it is important to identify any relation of passive smoking with neonatal respiratory morbidities at the grass-root level.This study was conducted to estimate the frequency and to determine the pattern of respiratory illness of neonate and also to assess the impact of fathers smoking on the magnitude of acute respiratory tract infections (ARI) of newborns. This was a descriptive type of cross sectional study. It carried out on 62 neonates for 180 days, who attended the Tungipara UHC, Gopalganj in Bangladesh between January to June 2018. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, physical examination, relevant investigations, and data were collected by semi structured questionnaire for respiratory illness. In this observational study, out of 62 neonates, from 1st day to 28 days of age. Diseases of the respiratory system topped the list (32%). Upper respiratory tract illnesses (URTI) were 22.5% as against only 9.5% of lower respiratory tract illness (LRTI). Most (47%) newborns were 28 days aged and 2nd most common (17.5%) was 15 days. The cumulative frequency was 37 percent up to 15 days of age. In the case of the father's occupation, most (19%) were in the private service. About one third (29%) fathers were engaged in business, whereas 18% done small business among them. However, it is a village area their cultivator was only 05 fathers. Consequently parent's education more than half (51.5%, 59.5%) were up to class 8. Nearly one-fifth of the fathers studied more than 12 classes. One-tenth of the fathers had no history of schooling and it was 1.5% of mothers. Most (32%) came in the OPD due to RTI and other than the respiratory problem was 26%. Among them, 42% did not require any treatment. In the inferential statistics fathers, smoking was responsible for neonatal respiratory illness. (Fisher's exact test 21.87 df 4 P 001). The respiratory illness affected more by second hand smoking whose fathers smoked tobacco. There need more grass-root level, multicentric, control-based study to find out the real picture of neonate respiratory morbidity, and other illness. Bangladesh Med J. 2020 May; 49(2) : 30-33

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Impact of Selected Behavioral and Environmental Factors on the Antibiotic Therapy in Polish Children With Upper Respiratory Tract Infections

Frontiers in Pediatrics ◽

10.3389/fped.2021.784265 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Katarzyna Ślęzak ◽

Łukasz Dembiński ◽

Artur Konefał ◽

Mikołaj Dąbrowski ◽

Artur Mazur ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Respiratory Tract ◽

Antibiotic Therapy ◽

Respiratory Tract Infections ◽

Upper Respiratory Tract Infections ◽

Upper Respiratory Tract ◽

Bacterial Strains ◽

Upper Respiratory ◽

Tract Infections ◽

The Impact

Antibiotic therapy must be carried out consistently and according to the guidelines. Viruses are the dominant cause of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in children, as has been shown in many previous studies. Unnecessary antibiotic therapy should be avoided so that it does not affect patients' health and lead to the development of resistant bacterial strains. Here we report a national survey conducted in a group of 4,389 children to assess the impact of selected behavioral and environmental factors on antibiotic therapy in patients with URTIs. We found that selected environmental factors influenced the type of treatment. The place of residence, having siblings, an absence of vaccinations, the presence of allergies, and attendance at educational institutions were conducive to antibiotic therapy. These factors also influenced the frequency of hospitalization of children and their absence from nurseries, kindergartens, and schools, as well as the absence of their guardians from work.

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Impact of COVID-19 integrated physical barrier systems in prevention of other upper respiratory tract infections in occupational settings: The key lessons learned

Journal of Emergency Medicine Trauma and Acute Care ◽

10.5339/jemtac.2021.qhc.16 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Mohamad Hamad BA Al-Naemi ◽

Walid Sayed Hassanen ◽

Sherif Fawzi Mohamed El Nahrawi ◽

Rama Abdulsalam Rashad ◽

Randall Atienza Arro

Keyword(s):

Respiratory Tract ◽

Sick Leave ◽

Respiratory Tract Infections ◽

Significant Decline ◽

Upper Respiratory Tract Infections ◽

Upper Respiratory Tract ◽

Physical Barrier ◽

Upper Respiratory ◽

Tract Infections ◽

The Impact

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic response, Qatar Gas implemented a multi-layer integrated physical barrier system in the field based on an interrelated meshwork of dimensions. It involved the utilization of fiberglass partitions, air purifiers, and dedicated transportation vehicles for suspected cases besides the traditional measures of physical distancing of at least 2 meters between employees, wearing face masks, and hand hygiene. Methods: We evaluated the impact of these measures by comparing the prevalence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), other than COVID-19, compared to the same time the previous year. In addition, we compared the number of sick leave days issued in 2020 to those issued during the previous year in the same time period and after stratification of other confounding or contributing factors. Results: Mechanistic studies found that surgical masks could prevent transmission of human coronavirus and in-fluenza virus infections if worn by infected persons. The number of other URTIs were statistically significantly lower after COVID-19 prevention measures were implemented . A simultaneous significant decline in the number of sick leaves issued (51.7% decline) was observed over the same period of the decline of URTI visits (sick leave rate declined from 1.3% in 2019 to 0.77% in 2020, p value ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: A clinically and statistically significant decline was observed in the incidence of URTI cases and the rate sick leaves between 2019 and 2020. This observation correlates with the start of the implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures. We recommend to consider continuation of the same precautionary measures as far as reasonably applicable, for critical workers in the field.

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