Analysis of diarrhea status among children under 5 years old in rural areas of Hubei province

Objective To understand the two-week prevalence rate of diarrhea among children under 5 years old in rural areas of Hubei province. Method A total of 2 330children under 5years old were investigated using cluster random sampling method in 8 cities(counties)in rural areas of Hubei. Results The two-week prevalence rate of diarrhea was8.1%among children under 5 years old in rural areas of Hubei province.There was no significant difference between boys(8.2%)and girls(7.9%).The result showed that the two-week prevalence rate became lower with the increase of children's age overall.But the rate showed upgrade firstly than descending latter tendency.The two-week prevalence rate was lowest(2.2%)among children aged 46～59 months,while it was highest(13.8%)among those aged 6～11 months.The two weeks prevalence rates were highest among children from middle-income area,while it was lowest among those from high-income area,the rates were 13.5% and 4.6%,respectively.The results also showed that the two-week prevalence rates among those whose mothers aged25 years old when they were borned were higher than those whose mothers aged≤25 years old(10.4% vs 6.7%).Those children whose mothers with primary and secondary educational level had the highest rate of11.9%,while those whose mother with junior high school education level had the lowest of 6.9%.The two-week prevalence rate was higher among children whose mothers worked outside the home when compared with those whose mothers didn't(9.9% vs 7.2%).Children with a family per capita income≤3 000 yuan over the past year had the highest rate(11.7%),and those with a family per capita income6 000 yuan had the lowest rate of 7.1%. Conclusions The two-week prevalence rate of diarrhea is high among children under 5 years old in rural areas of Hubei province.And the age of chlidren,age of the mother when the child was borned,mother's education and mothers work outside the home or not and family economics may be the influencing factors.