Magnitude of acute respiratory infections in under five children.

A community based study was carried out in a rural area of Wardha district in Maharastra to measure the incidence of acute respiratory infections among children below 5 years age. 384 under five children were followed up fortnightly for one calendar year to estimate the incidence of acute respiratory infections (ARI). There were 1298 episodes of ARI averaging 3.67 episodes/child/year. The incidence of lower respiratory infections was 0.07 episodes/child/year. The incidence of ARI was found to be closely associated with nutritional status of the child, socio-economic status of the family, maternal literacy status and family size. Environmental factors like type of house, ventilation and fuel used for cooking were found to influence the incidence of ARI.