Analysis of factors influencing acute respiratory infection among under-five children in Sering Public Health Centre, Medan Tembung subdistrict

Introduction: Nowadays, acute respiratory infection (ARI) is the most common cause of high morbidity and mortality rate in children. ARI is defined as an infection either in the upper or lower respiratory tract that lasts for 14 days and caused by either viruses or bacteria. The incidence of ARI in 2017 is 20.54%, with the most prominent characteristic in children aged 1 to 4 years. Factors that affect ARI frequency are gender, birth weight, nutritional status, immunization status, vitamin A status, exclusive breastfeeding, smoke exposure, family income, and mother’s formal education.Aim: This study aims to find out risk factors that potentiate ARI among children from age 1 to 5. Materials and methods: This study used a descriptive-analytical method with a cross-sectional study approach. The data is taken by consecutive sampling method with a questionnaire as the tool. Results: The bivariate analysis result using Fisher’s exact test shows that there is no relation between sex (p=0.642), birth weight (p=0.683), completion of immunization (p=0.195), vitamin A supplementation (p=1.000), exclusive breastfeeding (p=0.157), crowding (p=1.000), family income (p=0.658), knowledge (p=1.000), attitude (p=0.156), and behavior (p=1.000) with the frequency of ARI. The bivariate analysis result using Kruskal-Wallis test shows that there is no significant difference between groups in each factor of smoke exposure (p=0.988) and mother’s formal education (p=0.899) with the frequency of ARI.Conclusions: There is no relation between each factor with ARI frequency and there is no significant difference between groups in each factor with ARI frequency