Association of personal hygiene with common morbidities among upper primary school children in rural Odisha.

CONTEXT: In India, children of upper primary school receive less attention from health-care providers. The majority of their health problems are preventable through hygienic practices.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to find out the association of personal hygiene with common morbidities among upper primary school children.

SETTINGS AND

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study conducted in a rural upper primary school of Odisha.

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

A semi-structured schedule based on the Global School Health Survey Questionnaire and necessary instruments for clinical examination were used.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2007 and analyzed by SPSS version 20 software.

RESULTS

Of 90 participants, 58 (64.4%) were girls. The mean age was 11.8 (±1.01) years. The mean body mass index of females was significantly higher than males (16.95 vs. 14.72; P = 0.001). More than 90% of children maintained good personal hygiene such as clean tongue, clean hair, handwashing, and using footwear. The most common morbidities found were dental caries (38.9%), history of worms in stool and lethargy (20%). A mean score of 6.14 ± 0.11 (out of 8) was seen for personal hygiene and not associated with any particular morbidity or gender. Brushing daily was significantly associated with reduced dental caries (χ2 = 8.7; P < 0.005) and foul-smelling breath (χ2 = 4.93; P < 0.05). Fungal infections were significantly less in children who bathed daily (χ2 = 28.7; <0.005) and wore clean clothes (χ2 = 5.06; P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Dental caries, foul-smelling breath, and fungal infections were significantly associated with poor personal hygiene. School health services should also focus on upper primary school children for improvement of personal hygiene.