Prevalence and risk factors of pneumonia in under five children living in slums of Dibrugarh town

Abstract Background Pneumonia is a severe form of acute lower respiratory infection responsible for high preventable morbidities and mortality amongst under five year child. Many risk factors and barriers for care seeking influencing the prevalence of ARI and pneumonia. Methods A community based cross sectional study was undertaken in two slums of Dibrugarh town that were randomly selected. Subject Selection was done by probability proportionate to size technique. A total of 624 children were examined by house to house visit. Results Prevalence of pneumonia was 16.34%. Socio economic status (p=0.005), education of mothers (p=0.000), timely initiation of complementary feeding (p=0.006), complete immunization (p=0.000) and indoor air pollution (p=0.000), were significantly associated with occurrence of pneumonia. In multivariate analysis, pneumonia is significantly associated with indoor air pollution. Conclusion High prevalence of pneumonia and its association with different preventable risk factors needs to be addressed. Different community based intervention can be implemented to reduce this preventable morbidities.