Association Between Occurrence of Acute Diarrhea in Children with Socio-economic Status and Poor Knowledge Regarding the Hygiene and Breastfeeding

Abstract: A contaminated unhealthy food, poor hygiene, poor sanitation, breastfeeding, uncooked food and not washing hands properly can lead to diarrhea. Objective: To determine the as sociation between occurrence of acute diarrhea in children with socio-economic status and poor knowledge regarding the hygiene and breastfeeding. Methods: A crosssectional study was conducted in different public hospitals namely Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Services Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Lahore and completed within 9 months. From 280 patients the data were collected through questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using SPSS version 22.0.Frequencies were calculated and Pearson's chi-square test was applied. Results: All 280 patients were included in the study. 145(52%) participants belonged to lower socio economic class while 109(39%) participants belonged to middle class and 25(9%) were upper class. 74(27%) mothers were unsatisfactory knowledge about breastfeeding while 115(41%) m o t h e r s h ad g o od k n o w l edg e a b out breastfeeding and 90(32%) mothers had excellent knowledge about breastfeeding. 72% children were not living in clean environment while 28% children were living in clean environment. 91(33%) were not cooked properly food while 189(67%) were properly cooked food. Conclusions: It was concluded that there is a strong relation of getting acute diarrhea under ve years of agewith poor knowledge about breastfeeding, poor sanitation, breastfeeding, uncooked food and not washing hands properly. Maternal education and maternal socio economic status has also important role in acute diarrhea. Keywords: Breast-feeding, poor sanitation, socioeconomic status and hygiene.