Individual and climate factors associated with acute respiratory infection in Colombian children

The objective of this study was to examine the association between acute respiratory infection recall (ARI-recall) and individual and environmental factors such as climate, precipitation, and altitude above sea level in Colombian children. A secondary analysis of 11,483 Colombian children, whose mothers were interviewed in the 2010 National Demographic and Health Survey, was carried out. The outcome variable was the mother's or caregiver's ARI-recall. The independent variables were expressed at individual, cluster, and municipal levels. At the individual level, we considered health and individual characteristics of the children; at cluster level, we incorporated the altitude above sea level; and at the municipal level, we included precipitation and annual average climate. The association between ARI-recall and independent variables was assessed using a multilevel logistic regression model. ARI-recall was significantly associated with age (OR = 0.61; 95%CI: 0.48-0.79), belonging to an indigenous group (OR = 1.51; 95%CI: 1.16-1.96), and a medium or very poor wealth index (OR = 2.03; 95%CI: 1.25-3.30 and OR = 1.75; 95%CI: 1.08-2.84, respectively). We found interaction between acute child malnutrition and average annual precipitation. Children with acute malnutrition and from municipalities with high annual precipitation had significantly 3.6-fold increased risk of ARI-recall (OR = 3.6; 95%CI: 1.3-10.1). Individual conditions and precipitation are risk factors for ARI-recall in Colombian children. These results could be useful to understand ARI occurrence in children living in tropical countries with similar characteristics

Cluster (spacecraft) · Environmental health · Logistic regression · Malnutrition · Recall · Demography · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Pediatric health and respiratory diseases · Psychology · Respiratory Support and Mechanisms · Respiratory viral infections research

• Sentinel surveillance of acute respiratory infection (ARI) in children under five years old from 2015 to 2022 at a high-complexity health care institution in Cali, Colombia

  Open Access•Edilson Iles-Dorado, Johana Alarcón Soto et al.•Journal of Global Health•2025

  Incluir item

• Housing and Environmental Factors and Their Effects on the Health of Children in the Slums of Karachi, Pakistan

  Open Access•Rennie M D’souza, Rennie M D'Souza•Journal of Biosocial Science•1997

  Incluir item

• Tropical influenza and weather variability among children in an urban low-income population in Bangladesh

  Open Access•Chisato Imai, W Abdullah Brooks et al.•Global Health Action•2014

  Incluir item

• Care-seeking and appropriate treatment for childhood acute respiratory illness

  Open Access•Emily Mosites, Emily M Mosites et al.•BMC Public Health•2014

  Incluir item

• Understanding Health Disparities

  Edith Chen, A D Martins et al.•American Journal of Public Health•2006

  Incluir item