Factors associated with active Trachoma in children aged one to nine years in Samburu Central sub County, Kenya

Abstract

Trachoma is an eye infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. The World Health Organization (WHO) targets to eliminate this disease by the year 2020. Elimination of the disease is dependent on adequate information on its distribution and risk factors in any specific district. To establish the prevalence and associated risk factors of active trachoma in Samburu Central Sub County, a cross-sectional descriptive study based on the 30 by 7 cluster sampling method was conducted. Through a WHO random sampling process, 30 Manyatta were selected from a list of 100 in the sub County and 7 children selected randomly from households in each of the Manyatta hence a total of 210 children aged 1-9 years were selected. Parents or guardians who were caretakers of the selected children were interviewed and the children physically observed for signs of active trachoma. An interviewer-based questionnaire was used for data collection. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 where frequencies were used to calculate the prevalence of the disease while Pearson’s correlation (r) and chi-square test were used to evaluate the factors associated with the disease where the final list of the predictors of the disease were determined using stepwise logistic regression analysis method. As per the results, 23.8% of the children had signs suggestive of active trachoma. By gender, the prevalence for males was 19.6% and females 24.9% but the results were not significantly different (P > 0.05). The predictors of active trachoma were identified as: period of stay in household 6 – 10 years (OR0.53, 95% CI), 11 – 19 years (OR 0.31,95% CI), 20 – 29 years (OR 2.20, 95% CI) and 30 years and above (OR 1.41, 95% CI), itching eyes (OR 0.11, 95% CI), watery discharge from child’s eyes (OR 0.06, 95% CI) and swollen eyelids (OR 0.20, 95% CI). In conclusion, the results showed that the burden of active trachoma in the sub County is far above the 10% prevalence which the World Health Organization considers as a big threat to health. Efforts should, therefore, be directed towards eliminating the above determined predictors.