Infectious causes of childhood disability: results from a pilot study in rural Bangladesh

Gulam Khandaker; Mohammad Muhit; Harunor Rashid; Aynul Khan; Johurul Islam; Cheryl Jones; Robert Booy

doi:10.1093/tropej/fmu031

Infectious causes of childhood disability: results from a pilot study in rural Bangladesh

J Trop Pediatr. 2014 Oct;60(5):363-9. doi: 10.1093/tropej/fmu031. Epub 2014 Jun 13.

Authors

Gulam Khandaker¹, Mohammad Muhit², Harunor Rashid³, Aynul Khan⁴, Johurul Islam⁴, Cheryl Jones⁵, Robert Booy⁶

Affiliations

¹ National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia The Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia The Marie Bashir Institute for Emerging Infections and Biosecurity (MBI), Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia gulam.khandaker@health.nsw.gov.au.
² Child Sight Foundation (CSF), Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh Faculty of Public Health and Life Sciences, University of South Asia, Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh.
³ National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia.
⁴ Child Sight Foundation (CSF), Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh.
⁵ The Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia The Marie Bashir Institute for Emerging Infections and Biosecurity (MBI), Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia.
⁶ National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia The Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia The Marie Bashir Institute for Emerging Infections and Biosecurity (MBI), Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia.

PMID: 24929076
DOI: 10.1093/tropej/fmu031

Abstract

Purpose: To identify the contribution of infectious aetiologies to major childhood disabilities in Bangladesh.

Methods: Active community-based survey was conducted for severe childhood disability using the Key Informants Method between September 2011 and March 2012 in a rural sub-district of Bangladesh.

Results: We screened 1069 children and identified 859 with severe disabilities. The mean age of the disabled children was 8.5 year and 42.9% were girls. The major forms of impairments/conditions were cerebral palsy (n = 324, 37.7%), hearing impairment (n = 201, 23.4%), physical impairment (n = 147, 17.1%), visual impairment (n = 49, 5.7%), cerebral palsy with epilepsy (n = 39, 4.5%) and epilepsy (n = 41, 4.7%). Congenital rubella syndrome was identified in 1.1% (n = 9). 7.1% disabilities resulted from clinically confirmed infections, and another 10.8% originated from probable infections; thus a total of 17.9% disabilities were related to an infectious origin.

Conclusions: Infectious diseases appear to be one of the major causes of severe childhood disability in rural Bangladesh.

Keywords: Bangladesh; Disability; infection; key informants method.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bangladesh / epidemiology
Cerebral Palsy
Child
Child, Preschool
Communicable Diseases / complications*
Communicable Diseases / epidemiology
Disability Evaluation
Disabled Children / statistics & numerical data*
Female
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Pilot Projects
Population Surveillance
Prevalence
Rural Population*