ArticleBMC public health2021
Antibiotic use among children under five years with diarrhea in rural communities of Gulu, northern Uganda: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of diarrheal disease and its determinants among children under five in East Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Treatment-seeking practices of caregivers for children aged less than five years old with diarrhoea in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence of diarrheal diseases and associated factors among under five children in Africa: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Determinants of diarrhoeal diseases among under-five children in Africa (2013-2023): a comprehensive systematic review highlighting geographic variances, socioeconomic influences, and environmental factors.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Community use of oral rehydration solution and antibiotics for diarrhea in the Far North and Littoral regions of Cameroon: distribution and determinants.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Healthcare seeking behavior and antibiotic use for diarrhea among children in rural Bangladesh before seeking care at a healthcare facility.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Prevalence of antibiotic use for childhood diarrhoea in Uganda after an ORS scale-up intervention: a repeated cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Management of children with danger signs in integrated community case management care in rural southwestern Uganda (2014-2018).International health · 2024Observational
- Patterns and contextual determinants of antibiotic prescribing for febrile under-five outpatients at primary and secondary healthcare facilities in Bugisu, Eastern Uganda.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2022Article
- Non-prescribed antibiotic use for children at community levels in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2022Article
- Point Prevalence Survey of Antibiotic Use across 13 Hospitals in Uganda.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDiarrhea is the second leading cause of mortality in children under 5 years of age globally, and the risk of death increases with practices such as restriction of fluid intake and inappropriate use of antibiotics. We determined the prevalence of antibiotic use in managing diarrhea in children under 5 years of age in rural communities of Gulu district, northern Uganda.
methodA cross-sectional study among children under 5 years with diarrhea, from households selected using multi-stage sampling. A researcher administered questionnaire was used to obtain data from caregivers of these children.
resultsOf the 856 children recruited, 318 (37.1%, 318/856) had experienced diarrhea, where 263 (82.7%, 263/318) had diarrhea with acute respiratory infections (ARIs), and 55 (17.3%, 55/318) had diarrhea without ARIs. The majority (89.6%, 285/318) of the children had non-bloody diarrhea. A high proportion (82.8%) of the children with non-bloody diarrhea also had ARIs. Bloody diarrhea was reported for 33 (10.4%) children including those with ARIs, and only 6 of these (18.2%) children had bloody diarrhea without ARIs. Of the 318 children with diarrhea, over half (52%, CI: 46-57) were administered antibiotics. Of the 55 children who had diarrhea without ARIs, over a third (38%, CI: 26-51) were administered antibiotics. Similarly, of the 263 children with diarrhea and ARIs, 54% (CI: 48-60) were treated with antibiotics. The determinants of antibiotic use included; children living in peri-urban settings (AOR: 3.41, CI: 1.65-7.08, P = 0.001), getting treatment from health facility (AOR: 1.76, CI: 1.06-2.93, P = 0.029), and having diarrhea with ARIs (AOR: 3.09, CI: 1.49-6.42, P = 0.003).
conclusionAntibiotic use is common among children under 5 years with diarrhea in rural communities of northern Uganda.
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