title: Socio-demographic, Epidemiological and Environmental Determinants of Acute Gastroenteritis in Western India.
abstract: An outbreak of acute gastroenteritis had occurred in Rajpara village of Bhavnagar district. The objective of this study was to find out the socio-demographic, epidemiological and environmental determinants of this outbreak.
  
  
  
  A case-control study was conducted in Rajpara village among 238 cases of acute gastroenteritis and an equal number of controls in January 2015. Multiple logistic regression was used for identifying the variables independently predicting acute gastroenteritis.
  
  
  
  Upper socio-economic status, occupation requiring travel outside village, source of drinking water from well of 'new' Rajpara village, change in taste of water, use of chlorine tablets, travel outside village in last week, another family member affected with acute gastroenteritis, using common utensil for hand washing, hand washing before eating, ate food from outside in last week, having sanitary latrine at house, waste disposal in a common dump (instead of at house), waste accumulation around house and flies inside house were significantly associated with occurrence of acute gastroenteritis. On multiple logistic regression, change in taste of water (P<0.001), waste disposal in a common dump (P=0.012), another family member been affected (P<0.001), waste accumulation around house (P<0.001), higher socio-economic status (P=0.002) and eating outside food (P=0.011) made a significant contribution to prediction.
  
  
  
  Socio-demographic factors (higher socio-economic status), epidemiological correlates (change in taste of water, another family member been affected with acute gastroenteritis and eating outside food) and environmental determinants (waste disposal in a common dump and waste accumulation around house) significantly determines the occurrence of cases of acute gastroenteritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rupani
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Tridevi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, American International Institute of Medical Sciences, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Tundia
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: K N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Parikh
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: V B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Parmar
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D009790:Occupations; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018505:Waste Management; D014881:Water Supply
keywords: case-control studies; diarrhea; epidemiologic determinants; gastroenteritis; social determinants of health.