title: Burden of acute infections (except respiratory and diarrheal) and its risk factors among under-five children in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute infections of eyes, ears, skin, and others are a common cause of morbidity in under-five children. The overall burden of other infections and their risk factors is not known.
  
  
  METHODS
  Available literature was searched comprehensively using PubMed for acute infections (except acute respiratory and diarrheal diseases) using the relevant medical subject heading terms. Extracted articles were independently reviewed against inclusion/exclusion criteria and rated for quality. 10 articles were abstracted and reviewed to identify the reported prevalence and risk factors for acute infections among children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pooled prevalence of infections (not including acute respiratory and diarrhea) between 2002 and 2013 was 18.42 (95% confidence interval: 9.30-30.62), with reported range of 3.7-50.8%. The significantly positively associated factors reported in single studies were young age of the child, malnutrition, poor breastfeeding, low socio-economic status, animal rearing near household and mothers' illiteracy for independent morbidities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The evidence on risk factors including breastfeeding, vaccination, age, and sex that predispose under-five Indian children to different infections is inconclusive. There is a need to conduct more studies on acute infections other than acute respiratory and diarrhea, to establish their determinants in Indian children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Share India-MediCiti Institute of Medical Sciences, Ghanpur, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Enakshi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ganguly
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Share India-MediCiti Institute of Medical Sciences, Ghanpur, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Pawan K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Clareann H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Bunker
keywords: Ear infection; Eye infection; India; Meta-analysis; Prevalence; Risk factors; Skin infection; Systematic review; Under-five children