Abstract

Background: Diarrhea is widely recognized as a major cause of childhood morbidity and
mortality in many developing countries, particularly in India. According to World Health
Organization (WHO) report, diarrheal diseases are still leading causes of mortality and
morbidity in children under five years of age.
Objective: The present study attempts to estimate the association between maternal factors
and prevalence of Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases in children below 5 years of age in Indian
settings.
Methods: This community-based, cross-sectional epidemiological and single-center study
conducted in the rural field practice area attached to Department of Community Medicine of
Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India from March 2017 to
February 2018 was aimed to estimate the association between maternal factors and
prevalence of Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases in children below 5 years of age in Indian settings.
Ethics approval was obtained from Ethics Committee for Academic Research Projects
(ECARP). Research tools included a pre-structured questionnaire. Baseline information of
study area was taken from the Primary Health Centre. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet to perform analysis.
Results: In our study, 340 mothers who used to take bath daily of which 61(17.9%) had
diarrhoeal episodes, whereas out of 30 mothers who do not take bath daily, 15(50%) had
diarrhoeal episodes. Further, 340 mothers of children who used to wash their hands daily
before the meals of which 58(15.8%) children had diarrhoeal episodes, whereas out of 30
mothers who did not wash their hands before meals, 18(60%) children had diarrhoeal
episodes
Conclusion: The present study indicated that maternal factors bear a significant impact on
morbidity caused by diarrhea.