Quantity and variation in morbidity: THAID-analysis of the occurrence of gastroenteritis among Ethiopan children.

Morbidity figures from a one-year longitudinal child health study comprising 749 children in an urban area in Ethiopia are reported. Aggregated morbidity measures, based on frequency distributions according to morbidity level, demonstrate gastroenteritis among infants and young preschool children as a quantitatively important morbidity problem. Variation in the occurrence of gastroenteritis is studied among 390 children under 5 years by means of a multi-variate method, THAID-analysis, designed for a categorical or, as in this study, a categorized criterion variable. The results indicate that variables expressing nutrition, housing, hygiene and sanitation are dominating predictors of childhood diarrhoeal disease.