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Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Dec;10(2):020436.
doi: 10.7189/jogh.10.020436.

Hygiene practices among young adolescents aged 12-15 years in low- and middle-income countries: a population-based study

Liyuan Han  1   2 , Xuping Gao  3 , Minqi Liao  4 , Xiaoxuan Yu  4 , Ruijie Zhang  1   2 , Shiwei Liu  5 , Fangfang Zeng  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Hygiene practices among young adolescents aged 12-15 years in low- and middle-income countries: a population-based study

Liyuan Han et al. J Glob Health. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Poor personal hygiene increases disease risk, however, the prevalence of hygiene practices among adolescents is poorly described in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We aimed to assess the hygiene practices among young adolescents in LMICs using data from the Global School-based Student Health Surveys (GSHS).

Methods: This population-based study analysed the GSHS data for adolescents aged 12-15 years from 75 LMICs. Data were collected between 2003 and 2015 using standardised, anonymous, self-reported questionnaires. This report focuses on hygiene related behaviours such as tooth brushing, washing hands after using the toilet, washing hands before eating and washing hands with soap. The weighted prevalence and 95% confidential intervals (CIs) for the hygiene practices, and overall and regional estimates were calculated with random-effects meta-analysis.

Results: A total of 181 848 young adolescents from 75 LIMCs with available hygiene data were analysed. The overall prevalence for never washing hands were 7.4% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 4.4-10.3) for before eating, 5.9% (95% CI = 3.8-7.9) for after using the toilet, and 9.0% (95% CI = 6.2-11.8) for with soap. For tooth brushing, the overall prevalence estimates were 8.6% (95% CI = 5.5-11.7) for never brushing teeth, 80.9% (95% CI = 74.7-87.1) for 1-3 times per day, and 9.7% (95% CI = 5.8-13.6) for >3 times per day. However, the prevalence of different hygiene practices varied significantly among countries and regions (all P values <0.001). Poor hygiene status, with a prevalence >20%, was still observed in several LMICs (eg, 12 countries for never washing hands and 4 for never brushing teeth).

Conclusions: The hygiene practices of young adolescents aged 12-15 years were generally frequent, but poor status was still observed in several LMICs. These findings emphases the need for hygiene and health education targeting young adolescents in LMICs.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors completed the ICMJE Unified Competing Interest form (available upon request from the corresponding author), and declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow of participants through the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of hand washing and tooth brushing in adolescents aged 12-15 years among 75 low-income and middle-income countries, 2003-2015.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of hand washing and tooth brushing in adolescents aged 12-15 years by countries, 2003-2015. Panel A. Rarely or never wash hands before eating. Panel B. Rarely or never wash hands after using toilet or latrine. Panel C. Rarely or never wash hands with soap. Panel D. Rarely or never brush teeth.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Trends of prevalence of hand washing in adolescents aged 12-15 years from 2003 to 2015.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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