Saraswat Neerja, Shankar Pooja, Chopra Ajay, Mitra Barnali, Kumar Sushil
Department of Dermatology, Base Hospital Delhi Cantt, New Delhi, India.
Department of Community Medicine, ADH Jabalpur Cantt, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Indian Dermatol Online J. 2020 Jan 13;11(1):25-28. doi: 10.4103/idoj.IDOJ_48_19. eCollection 2020 Jan-Feb.
Head louse infestation is a common parasitic disease in pediatric age group. It is common in collective centers such as schools, garrisons, campuses and old age homes. It is worldwide in distribution with no strict limitation with respect to age, gender and race.
Present study was conducted to investigate the socio-economic and lifestyle risk factors for head louse infestation in pediatric patients.
An observational descriptive study at a tertiary care hospital in rural Uttar Pradesh over a period of 1 year wherein measurement of disease/risk factors associated with head louse infestation was performed. It was carried out in all children between 5 and 15 years of age using a pre-validated questionnaire. The method of convenience sampling was used and multiple logistic regression was run to account for potential confounding variables using SPSS software.
A total of 165 (71.1%) females and 67 (28.8%) males were infested. Most common age group affected was between 5 and 7 years where 97 (41.8%) children were infected. Ninety-five (40.9%) children were in fourth to seventh standards. Parents of 137 (59%) children were not formally educated. Eighty-one (34.9%) children had six members in the family while per capita income was between 5000 and 2500 in families of 139 (59.9%) children. Eighty-seven (37.5%) children had hair length up to shoulders. One twenty-eight (55.1%) children had no family member affected. Seventy-six (32.7%) children took bath twice a week only.
Social and economic factors as well as lifestyle and education level of patients play a significant role in epidemiology of head lice.
头虱感染是儿童年龄组中常见的寄生虫病。在学校、驻军营地、校园和养老院等集体场所很常见。其分布遍及全球，在年龄、性别和种族方面没有严格限制。
本研究旨在调查儿科患者头虱感染的社会经济和生活方式风险因素。
在印度北方邦农村的一家三级护理医院进行了为期1年的观察性描述性研究，对与头虱感染相关的疾病/风险因素进行了测量。使用预先验证的问卷对所有5至15岁的儿童进行调查。采用便利抽样方法，并使用SPSS软件进行多元逻辑回归以考虑潜在的混杂变量。
共有165名（71.1%）女性和67名（28.8%）男性被感染。受影响最常见的年龄组是5至七岁，有97名（41.8%）儿童被感染。95名（40.9%）儿童在四至七年级。137名（59%）儿童的父母未接受过正规教育。81名（34.9%）儿童的家庭中有六口人，而139名（59.9%）儿童家庭的人均收入在5000至2500之间。87名（37.5%）儿童的头发长度到肩膀。128名（55.1%）儿童没有家庭成员被感染。76名（32.7%）儿童每周只洗两次澡。
社会和经济因素以及患者的生活方式和教育水平在头虱的流行病学中起着重要作用。
