In-door factors and its status related to pneumonia risk in children under five years

Abstract

Children under five years spend most of their time indoors, which means that their primary exposure to air pollution may come from home. Pneumonia has been one of the serious problems for children under five in Indonesia. In this study, we aim to analyze pneumonia risk factors including environmental risk factors at home and the host factors. We conducted a case-control study. Cases were children aged 12 to 59 months with pneumonia based on medical records of Sememi Primary health center in Surabaya and controls were those with non-pneumonia who live surrounding. We administered structures questionnaires to mothers to obtain data on in-door exposure (ETS, coil mosquito smoke, and aerosol mosquito) and the host factors (birth weight and exclusive breastfeeding). Housing environment (humidity, temperature, natural light, ventilation, and child bedroom's densities) were measured using appropriate tools. Data were analyzed using binary logistic regression; the significance level was set at 0.05. The results showed that humidity, natural light, and exclusive breastfeeding were related to pneumonia. Although the in-door exposure was not. Children under five bedrooms should be designed comfortably and have good indoor air quality. Exclusive breastfeeding could be a protective risk factor to pneumonia in children under five.