| Abstract: | Sociodemographic factors including low maternal education, low economic status, inferior quality of housing, diminished access to water and sanitation facilities, and crowding in the household are associated with increased diarrhoea in the rural setting of many developing countries. To assess the relationship of these variables with diarrhoea rates in children in an urban setting we monitored the episodes of diarrhoea of children less than 6 years of age from 1921 families living in 51 clusters throughout Dhaka city, Bangladesh, for 3 1/2 months. Comparing incidence density ratios, we found that, of the factors listed above, only low family income and living in a one-room house were statistically associated with increased diarrhoea and that none of these variables was associated with a meaningfully increased risk of diarrhoea. We conclude that the risk factors for increased episodes of diarrhoea in the urban setting appear to be different from those of the rural setting. |
