Prevalence of Diarrhea in Children 1 to 5 Years at Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital Swat SGTH
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Background: Diarrhea remains an important cause of illness among children younger than five years, particularly in settings with limited access to safe water, sanitation, hygiene, and preventive healthcare. Objective: To estimate the proportion of children aged 1–5 years attending or admitted to the pediatric unit of Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital, Swat, who had caregiver-reported diarrhea during the preceding 14 days and to assess selected associated factors. Methods: An institution-based descriptive cross-sectional study included 150 children selected through non-probability consecutive sampling. Data were obtained from mothers or guardians using a structured questionnaire covering sociodemographic, environmental, hygiene, feeding, and vaccination characteristics. Categorical data were summarized as frequencies and percentages, and bivariate associations were assessed using chi-square tests. Results: Diarrhea during the preceding 14 days was reported for 120 children, representing 80.0% of the hospital sample (95% CI 72.9–85.6). The proportion was 86.4% among male children and 71.0% among female children. Male children had a higher crude prevalence than female children (PR 1.22, 95% CI 1.02–1.46; χ²=5.389; p=0.020). No statistically significant bivariate associations were detected for maternal education, family income, water source, water treatment, handwashing, feeding-bottle practices, routine vaccination, or rotavirus vaccination. Conclusion: Recent caregiver-reported diarrhea was common in the sampled hospital population. The observed sex difference requires confirmation in larger community-based studies using probability sampling and adjusted analyses
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