Hand washing and diarrhoea in adolescents

Abstract

Aim This study aimed to characterize hand washing among 13-year-old adolescents, assessing the association with the occurrence of diarrhoea. Subject and methods We evaluated 2,036 adolescents enrolled in schools of Porto, Portugal. Information was collected by self-administered questionnaires. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to estimate associations. Results Male adolescents reported more frequently than female adolescents that they always washed their hands before meals (72.2 vs 64.0%), but female adolescents reported more frequently washing their hands after using toilet facilities (81.7 vs 77.4%) and after touching animals (58.0 vs 52.5%). Overall 21.2% reported having had at least one episode of diarrhoea, 25.7% of female and 28.9% of male adolescents. Considering crude results, a higher occurrence of diarrhoea was associated with a lower frequency of washing hands before handling food [OR = 1.79 (95% CI 1.28-2.49)], before meals [OR = 1.52 (95% CI 1.09-2.14)] and after using toilets [OR = 1.61 (95% CI 1.07-2.42)]. After adjustment for gender and parents' education, the associations were, respectively, OR = 1.68 (95% CI 1.17-2.41), OR = 1.42 (95% CI 0.98-2.05) and OR = 1.56 (95% CI 0.99-2.45). Conclusion Our results showed that even among adolescents from a developed country, the lowest hand washing frequency was associated with higher probability of diarrhoea occurrence. © Springer-Verlag 2011.