ArticleTropical medicine & international health : TM & IH2006
Distance to water source and altitude in relation to active trachoma in Rombo district, Tanzania.
Article in Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Community-level trachoma ecological associations and the use of geospatial analysis methods: A systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Pooled it
- The impact of access to water supply and sanitation on the prevalence of active trachoma in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Pooled it
- Prevalence and associated factors of active trachoma among children in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2019Pooled it
- Effect of water, sanitation, and hygiene on the prevention of trachoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2014Pooled it
- The impact of climatic risk factors on the prevalence, distribution, and severity of acute and chronic trachoma.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2013Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Trachoma prevalence and associated risk factors in the gambia and Tanzania: baseline results of a cluster randomised controlled trial.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2010Trial
- Prevalence and spatial distributions of trachomatous inflammation-follicular among children aged 1-9 years in rural areas of Yilmana Densa and Gonji Kolela districts, Northwestern Ethiopia.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Understanding the impact of covariates for trachoma prevalence prediction using geostatistical methods.BMC global and public health · 2025Article
- Ongoing transmission of trachoma in low prevalence districts in Mozambique: results from four cross-sectional enhanced impact surveys, 2022.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Photographic grading to evaluate facial cleanliness and trachoma among children in Amhara region, Ethiopia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Observational
- Review
- Determinants of Trachomatous Inflammation-Follicular Among Children Aged 1 to 9 Years Old in a Rural Area of Gozamn District, Northwestern Ethiopia: A Matched Case-Control Study.Environmental health insights · 2023Article
- Trachoma.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2022Review
- Predicting future community-level ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection prevalence using serological, clinical, molecular, and geospatial data.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Article
- Status of active trachoma infection among school children who live in villages of open field defecation: a comparative cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Unimproved water sources and open defecation are associated with active trachoma in children in internally displaced persons camps in the Darfur States of Sudan.Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · 2019Article
- Understanding the spatial distribution of trichiasis and its association with trachomatous inflammation-follicular.BMC infectious diseases · 2019Article
- Prevalence of active trachoma and associated risk factors among children of the pastoralist population in Madda Walabu rural district, Southeast Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study.BMC infectious diseases · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo investigate the relationship between distance to water source, altitude and active trachoma in children in Rombo district, Tanzania.
methodsIn each of Rombo's 64 villages, 10 balozis (groups of 8-40 households) were selected at random and all resident children aged 1-9 years were examined for clinical signs of active trachoma. The households of these children and village water sources were mapped using differentially corrected global positioning system data to determine each household's altitude and distance to the nearest water supply.
resultsWe examined 12 415 children and diagnosed 1171 cases of active trachoma (weighted prevalence=9.1%, 95% CI: 8.0, 10.2%). Active trachoma prevalence ranged from 0% to 33.7% across villages. Increasing distance to the nearest water source was significantly associated with rising trachoma prevalence (age-adjusted odds ratio for infection (OR) for highest quartile compared to lowest=3.56, 95% CI 2.47, 5.14, P for trend <0.0001). Altitude was significantly inversely associated with trachoma prevalence (age-adjusted OR for highest quartile compared to lowest=0.55, 95% CI 0.41, 0.75, P for trend <0.0001). These associations remained significant after adjustment in multivariate analysis.
conclusionsTrachoma is endemic in Rombo district, although the prevalence varies considerably between villages. Spatial mapping is a useful method for analysing risk factors for active trachoma.
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