Morbidity pattern and personal hygiene in children among private primary school in urban area: are the trends changing?
BACKGROUND
School health is an important intervention as a great deal of research tells us that schools can have a major effect on children's health, by teaching them about health and promoting healthy behaviors.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to determine common health problems and assess personal hygiene status among primary school children.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted in academic years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, with three health check-up camps organized in private primary school of Pune city.


METHODS
A total of 450 students were assessed for health problems and composite score of personal hygiene status was calculated ranging from 0 to 5 by examination of hairs, nails, skin and clothes.


METHODS
Proportions calculated with application of Chi-square test and Pearson co-efficient applied to observe the relation between two quantitative variables.


RESULTS
Out of 450 students examined, 56.2% were boys and 43.8% were girls with age ranging from 5 to 10 years. The major morbidities observed were dental caries (65.1%), upper respiratory tract infections (38.2%), ear wax (29.9%) and myopia (10.0%). Mean hygiene score was significantly higher in girls (4.32) than boys (3.95) and poor hygiene observed in older boys.


CONCLUSIONS
Increasing myopia and poor dental hygiene denotes a changing morbidity pattern in private primary school of the urban area. The hygiene status of the girls is significantly better than boys.
Department of Community Medicine, Smt. Kashibai Navale Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Mayavati S
MS
Mhaske
Department of Community Medicine, Smt. Kashibai Navale Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Deepak S
DS
Khismatrao
Department of Community Medicine, Smt. Kashibai Navale Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Fernandez
F
Kevin
Department of Community Medicine, Smt. Kashibai Navale Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Harshal T
HT
Pandve
Department of Community Medicine, Smt. Kashibai Navale Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Ritesh P
RP
Kundap
Health problems; morbidity; personal hygiene; private school; school children