A Study of Risk Factors of Acute Respiratory Tract Infection (ARI) of Under Five Age Group in Urban and Rural Communities of Moradabad District, U.P

BACKGROUND Acute respiratory tract infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing and also developed countries. About 13 million children under 5 years of age die every year in the world, 95 % of them in developing countries and one third of total deaths due to ARI. OBJECTIVE To study some of the risk factors which are responsible for occurrence of ARI in under five age groups living in urban and rural areas of Moradabad district. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross sectional study covering 500 under five children in urban (five zone) and rural (five PHC of sanand taluka) area of Moradabad district from September 2015 to March 2016. RESULTS A significant association was found between ARI and low birth weight, timely initiation of breast feeding, prelactal feeding, timely given complementary feeding and immunization status. No significant association was found between ARI and duration of breast feeding. Occurrence of ARI was found to be 22 %. It was more in low birth weight babies (