Effect of housing construction material on childhood acute respiratory infection: a hospital based case control study in Bangladesh.

Despite several studies conducted to investigate housing factors, the effects of housing construction materials on childhood ARI symptoms in Bangladesh remain unclear. Hence, the study aimed to measure such a correlation among children under the age of five. A hospital-based case-control study was conducted, involving 221 cases and 221 controls from January to April 2023. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression was performed to measure the degree of correlation between housing construction materials and childhood ARI symptoms. Households composed of natural floor materials had 2.7 times (95% confidence interval 1.27-5.57) and households composed of natural roof materials had 1.8 times (95% confidence interval 1.01-3.11) higher adjusted odds of having under-five children with ARI symptoms than household composed of the finished floor and finished roof materials respectively. Households with natural wall type were found protective against ARI symptoms with adjusted indoor air pollution determinants. The study indicates that poor housing construction materials are associated with an increased risk of developing ARI symptoms among under-five children in Bangladesh. National policy regarding replacing poor housing materials with concrete, increasing livelihood opportunities, and behavioral strategies programs encouraging to choice of quality housing construction materials could eliminate a fraction of the ARI burden.

Magnitude and trends in inequalities in healthcare-seeking behavior for pneumonia and mortality rate among under-five children in Bangladesh: Evidence from nationwide cross-sectional survey 2007 to 2017.

Background and Aims: Bangladesh did not have enough evidence on the current estimates and trend in inequities in the under-five mortality rate (U5MR). There is also a shortage of evidence on trends and inequalities in healthcare-seeking for pneumonia among under-five children (U5C) in Bangladesh. Hence, this study investigated the inequalities in U5MR and health care seeking for pneumonia in U5C through socioeconomic and geographic disparities in Bangladesh between 2007 and 2017. Methods: Data from 2007, 2011, 2014, and 2017 Bangladesh Demographic and Health surveys were analyzed using the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) software by World Health Organization (WHO). The data on U5MR and healthcare-seeking for pneumonia were first disaggregated into five equity dimensions: wealth status, education, child sex, place of residence, and administrative divisions. Second, using summary metrics such as difference (D), population attributable risk (PAR), ratio (R), and population attributable fraction (PAF), inequalities were assessed. Results: The U5MR declined from 73.9 deaths per 1000 live births in 2007 to 48.6 deaths in 2017, while the prevalence of healthcare-seeking for pneumonia in U5C fluctuated over time (34.6% in 2007, 35.4% in 2011, 42.0% in 2014, and 39.8% in 2017). Profound socioeconomic and geographic disparities in U5MR and the prevalence of healthcare-seeking for pneumonia in U5C favored the wealthy, educated, and urban residents. At the same time, the Sylhet division showed the worst situation for U5MR. There were also sex-related disparities in U5MR (PAR = -4.5, 95% confidence interval: -5.3 to -3.7) with higher risk among male children than females. Conclusion: These results indicate that improving disadvantaged women, such as the poor, uneducated, and rural inhabitants, who exhibit disproportionate disparities in U5MR and healthcare-seeking behavior is important. To reduce childhood mortality, it is essential to improve healthcare-seeking for pneumonia among U5C. Facilitating women for better education and economic encompasses would help reducing disparity.

Depressive symptoms associated with loneliness and physical activities among graduate university students in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional pilot study.

In low-resource settings like Bangladesh, there is a dearth of research on the mental health of university students. This pilot study aimed to identify the prevalence of depressive symptoms, loneliness, and physical activities as well as the associated factors of depressive symptoms among graduate students in a public university of Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study was carried out among 323 graduate students between February 2019 and May 2019. By the convenience sampling technique, data were collected by a pretested, structured questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the validated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) tool with a cut-off score of ≥10 vs. less; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale was applied to assess loneliness, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) scale was used to measure physical activity level. The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms was 52% and about 43% of participants felt most lonely. About 32.8% of students were involved in low physical activity. Being female, from lower income families, having poor academic performance, experiencing shorter sleep time, lower physical activity, and being lonely were potential risk factors for depressive symptoms among graduate university students. A positive correlation was found between loneliness and depressive symptoms of students (r = 0.367, p < 0.001). The higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among Bangladeshi graduate university students suggests the need for situation analysis, confirmatory clinical diagnosis, in-depth qualitative explorations, and large-scale surveys to explore the burden of such disorders and design appropriate low-intensity interventions like implementing student counselling service, offering mental assistance or other mental health support program in the country.

Sources of nutrition information and nutritional knowledge among school-going adolescents in Bangladesh.

Objectives: The increasing prevalence of malnutrition among school-going adolescents is a major public health threat in Bangladesh. School studying adolescents are a crucial group suffering from malnutrition. Proper nutrition information can enrich their knowledge, promote their health and also minimize the burden of malnutrition. The study aimed to identify the sources of information and corresponding knowledge level on nutrition among school-going adolescents in Bangladesh. Study design: A school-based cross-sectional survey was carried out from January to August 2019. Methods: A pre-structured questionnaire having 13 validated questions regarding facts panel of packaged food and daily dietary habits was used to assess the knowledge. Scores on nutritional knowledge were calculated by summing up the answer values (Yes â€‹= â€‹1, No â€‹= â€‹0) and, scores below the overall mean were considered low. Logistic regression was employed to identify whether any source was related to respondents' nutritional knowledge. Results: Family members were the most popular (52.4%) source of nutrition information. Majority students (43.2%) trusted professionals as an accurate source. Approximately half (49.1%) of the participants scored low (<9.34) in basic nutrition knowledge assessment. Participants seeking information from family members (AOR: 0.693; 95% CI: 0.555-0.866, p â€‹< â€‹0.05) and online resources (AOR: 0.826, 95% CI: 0.710-0.962, p â€‹< â€‹0.05) were less likely to obtain low scores than those not favored the sources. Conclusion: Knowledge about essential nutrition among school-going adolescents was quite low. The findings of this study are useful to the policymakers to develop and design interventions to improve adolescents' knowledge of nutrition. A school-based nutrition awareness program can be introduced to reduce malnutrition among adolescents in Bangladesh.