To investigate the clinico-demographic profile and risk variables linked with measles patients

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinico-demographic profile and risk variables linked with measles patients. Material and Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among children who presented in the Paediatric OPD over the course of a year. Children who satisfied the criteria for clinical measles as per WHO criteria i.e Fever with rash lasting at least 3 days and cough/coryza (running nose), or conjunctivitis (red eyes) were included in the study. The research comprised 240 children who presented in OPD throughout the study period. 82 of the 240 children’ were admitted in the pediatric ward had one or more complications of the measles. Results: It was found that 82 cases of clinical measles, with a frequency of 34.17%, were admitted out of a total of 240 cases. The attack rate (Table 1) was highest (71.95%) in the age range of 0 – 5 years, as is also evident from the table. Male child (43.90%) and female child (56.10%) were shown to have a little advantage. The majority of children who contracted measles were between the ages of 1 - 5 (57.32%) and 5 - 10 (21.95%), respectively. Children who live in rural slums are more likely to be attacked (79.27%). The majority of measles cases (50%) are associated with lower socioeconomic level. Only 24.39% of children with measles attacks were exclusively breastfed for initial six months according to research. In 29 instances (35.36%) the immunization status was "complete," whereas 50% of the youngsters (14.63%) were only partly immunized. With the exception of 8 measles cases, all were malnourished with category II and above. Conclusion: The vast majority of the cases had been found in children who had not been vaccinated, which indicates that vaccination coverage should be increased. In addition to this, there were cases found in children who had been vaccinated, which indicates that there is a possibility of a vaccine failing in older children and the necessity of including a second dose of vaccination as quickly as possible in the immunisation programme.