Healthcare seeking trends in acute respiratory infections among children of Pakistan

Table 1 Prevalence of acute respiratory infections and its care seeking according to Pakistan demographic and health survey data 2006-2007 and 2012-2013, n (%)

	PDHS 2006-2007 n = 1590	PDHS 2012-2013 n = 2142
Pneumonia	1167 (73.3)	1610 (75.1)
No pneumonia	423 (26.7)	532 (24.8)
Care seeking for ARI
Sought	1108 (69.6)	1707 (79.7)
Not sought	482 (30.3)	435 (20.3)

PDHS: Pakistan demographic and health survey; ARI: Acute respiratory infections.

Table 2 Baseline characteristics of children with acute respiratory infections according to Pakistan demographic and health survey data 2006-2007 and 2012-2013, n (%)

	PDHS 2006-2007 n = 1590	PDHS 2012-2013 n = 2142
Age
Neonates (up to 28 d)	377 (23.6)	452 (21.0)
1 to 6 mo	1213 (76.3)	1690 (78.9)
Gender
Male	877 (55.2)	1143 (53.4)
Female	713 (44.7)	999 (46.5)

PDHS: Pakistan demographic and health survey.

Table 3 Trends of rates of pneumonia care seeking according to Pakistan demographic and health survey data 2006-2007 and 2012-2013, n (%)

	PDHS 2006-2007			PDHS 2012-2013
	Care seeking (n = 813)	No care seeking (n = 354)	P value	Care seeking (n = 1276)	No care seeking (n = 325)	P value
Individual level factors
Maternal age (yr)
Up to 20	37 (77.1)	11 (22.9)	0.01	43 (75.4)	14 (24.5)	0.02
20 to 30	421 (71.5)	167 (28.5)		685 (82.0)	150 (18.0)
31 or above	355 (66.9)	176 (33.1)		548 (77.3)	161 (22.7)
Maternal education
Illiterate	515 (64.2)	287 (35.7)	< 0.001	700 (77.1)	208 (22.9)	0.007
Primary	136 (78.6)	37 (21.4)		221 (79.7)	56 (20.2)
Secondary or above	162 (84.4)	30 (15.6)		355 (85.3)	61 (14.6)
Father’s education
Illiterate	252 (59.5)	171 (40.4)	< 0.001	390 (77.2)	115 (22.7)	0.004
Primary	151 (74.7)	51 (25.2)		182 (75.8)	59 (24.2)
Secondary or above	405 (75.7)	130 (24.3)		704 (82.5)	151 (17.5)
Father’s occupation
Skilled manual	149 (77.2)	44 (22.8)	< 0.001	214 (84.2)	40 (15.7)	0.11
Unskilled manual	168 (65.3)	89 (34.6)		431 (78.1)	121 (21.9)
Professional/	63 (72.4)	24 (27.5)		123 (78.8)	33 (21.2)
technical
Agriculture related	151 (62.1)	92 (37.9)		150 (81.1)	35 (18.9)
Services/clerical	253 (75.9)	80 (24.1)		319 (79.9)	80 (20.1)
Did not work	25 (50.0)	25 (50.0)		33 (70.2)	14 (29.7)
Others	4 (100.0)	0 (0.0)		6 (75.0)	2 (25.0)
Maternal working status
Working	182 (67.1)	89 (32.8)	0.3	247 (79.4)	64 (20.6)	0.46
Not working	631 (70.4)	265 (29.5)		1029 (80.1)	261 (20.3)
Age of child (mo)
Neonates	205 (74.2)	71 (25.7)	0.03	275 (81.1)	170 (19.8)	0.13
1 to 2	351 (71.8)	138 (28.2)		590 (81.3)	135 (18.7)
3-6	257 (64.0)	145 (36.0)		411 (76.5)	126 (23.5)
Gender
Male	456 (70.7)	189 (29.3)	0.39	686 (80.1)	170 (19.8)	0.63
Female	357 (68.3)	165 (31.6)		590 (79.1)	155 (20.8)
Place of delivery
Healthcare facility	326 (76.7)	99 (23.3)	< 0.001	683 (83.4)	135 (16.6)	0.008
Home	485 (65.5)	255 (34.5)		593 (75.7)	190 (24.3)
Delivery conducted by
Health professional	331 (79.0)	88 (21.0)	< 0.001	672 (82.2)	146 (17.9)	0.01
Trained birth attendant	247 (71.1)	100 (28.9)		343 (79.5)	89 (20.7)
Other untrained attendant	229 (58.4)	163 (41.6)		261 (74.5)	89 (25.4)
Delivery by cesarean section
Yes	79 (82.2)	17 (17.7)	< 0.001	169 (84.5)	31 (15.5)	0.19
No	734 (68.5)	337 (31.4)		1107 (79.1)	293 (20.9)
Household level factors
Socioeconomic status
Lower class	326 (60.2)	216 (39.8)	< 0.001	524 (75.3)	171 (24.7)	0.005
Middle class	154 (69.3)	68 (30.7)		279 (82.3)	60 (23.6)
Higher class	333 (82.6)	70 (17.4)		473 (84.9)	94 (15.1)
Community level factors
Residence
Urban	287 (77.5)	83 (22.5)	< 0.001	531 (82.1)	116 (17.9)	0.05
Rural	526 (66.0)	271 (34.0)		745 (78.1)	209 (21.9)
Geographical region
Punjab	321 (73.4)	116 (26.5)	< 0.001	401 (87.3)	58 (12.6)	< 0.001
Sindh	332 (78.8)	89 (21.2)		244 (82.4)	52 (17.5)
KPK	144 (51.4)	136 (48.5)		335 (70.9)	137 (29.0)
Balochistan	16 (55.1)	13 (44.8)		129 (72.8)	48 (27.1)
Gilgit Baltistan	-	-		114 (84.4)	21 (15.6)
Islamabad (ICT)	-	-		53 (85.4)	9 (14.5)

PDHS: Pakistan demographic and health survey; KPK: Khyber Pakhtun Khwah.