Factors associated with high prevalence of coughs, colds and fever among urban slum dwellers in Dhaka, Bangladesh

While adverse housing is commonly associated with high respiratory morbidity in urban slum areas, data on prevalence of common respiratory symptoms among adults in urban slums in Bangladesh is limited. We compared the frequency of common respiratory symptoms among men and women in relation to individual socio-demographic and household characteristics using methods of descriptive and analytic epidemiology. Cross-sectional data from 1892 adult respondents collected in the baseline study in 2009 in nine urban slum areas of Dhaka were used. Three month prevalence of coughs and colds was 21.5% (n=1,893). Women were more vulnerable to respiratory symptoms in relation to the frequent exposure to stagnant water bodies near the house (OR: 4.44; 95% CI: 2.49-7.93) and waste disposal (OR: 3.57; 95% CI: 1.37-9.31). Practice of smoking inside dwelling increased the likelihood of having respiratory symptoms for both sexes. Recurrent contact or exposure to stagnant water and unhygienic waste management appeared to be the strongest factors associated with respiratory symptoms, particularly among women. This finding underlines the significance of the improvement of housing quality in slum areas affected by stagnation of water and improper waste management as well as the need for public health intervention to minimize the risk of diseases associated with these factors. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v3i2.20042 South East Asian Journal of Public Health Vol.3(2) 2013: 58-65