Iranian Journal of

Background & Objectives: To determine the risk factors for acute diarrhea disease in children.
Methods: This study involved 220 cases and 220 controls in Dr. Sheykh Hospital, a specialzed pediatric hospital in Mashhad. Cases were children seen in the emergency department with loose watery feces, diagnosed as acute diarrhea by the physician. The controls were selected from the same setting as the cases and included children with traumas, burns, acute respiratory complaints and other diseases.
Results: In univariate logistic regression, variables having a significant relationship with acute diarrhea disease included formula feeding in the first 6 months of life, antibiotic therapy over the preceding 15 days, mother's employment, mother's acquaintance with oral rehydration solutions, place of residence, and disruption in the water supply in the week before illness. We performed multiple logistic regression to examine the role of these variables as independent risk factors for acute diarrhea. Use of formulas before 6 months of age (OR=3.21, 95%CI: 1.77-5.79), and type of residence (OR=1.83, 95%CI: 1.24-2.71), and mother's employment (OR=2.48, 95%CI: 1.2-5.06) were the factors that remained in the multiple logistic model and had a significant relationship with the disease.
Conclusions: This study identified some environmental risk factors for acute diarrhea disease. High-risk groups and mothers of children under 5 years of age should be aware of these risk factors in order to prevent disease in their children. Prevention of acute diarrhea in children can significantly reduce the current burden on the health system.

Background and Objectives: Spatial epidemiology is the description and analysis of geographic variations of diseases with respect to demographic, environmental, behavioral, socioeconomic, genetic, and infectious risk factors. Disease mapping includes a set of statistical techniques that lead to providing clean maps based on estimation of the incidence, prevalence and mortality rates for the users to enable them to reliably estimate the distribution of the diseases. In this study, the spatial epidemiology of diarrhea was evaluated in Mazandaran.

Methods: In the present study, statistical methods like the Moran’s I spatial autocorrelation, Anselin local Moran’s I, K function and Ripley index were used to evaluate 4924 cases between 1385-1390, based on certain factors detected in diarrheal diseases.

Results: The results of the global Moran index showed that this disease provided adherence to a cluster pattern in the province. The results of the K function also showed that apart from the western regions of the province, the diarrheal disease followed the above-mentioned cluster pattern. The results of Anselin local Moran and sensitive indicators revealed that the central region of the province, including the cities of Sari, Qaymshmhr, and Babol had the highest prevalence of the disease.

Conclusion: The results showed that the prevalence of syndrome diarrhea follows the pattern cluster and the use of spatial analysis methods in a specific geographic area is appropriate for programs to reduce health risks. And in epidemiological studies, analysis and risk assessment diarrhea syndrome are very important.