Two-week morbidity and its risk factors among rural left-behind children aged 5 years in Hebei province

Objective To analyze two-week morbidity and its influencing factors among rural left-behind children(LBC) ≤ 5 years old in Hebei province and to provide evidences for improving health status of LBC.Methods The data on 1 022 rural children ≤ 5 years old in Hebei province were extracted from the Database of 5th National Health Services Survey conducted in 2013 to describe the status of the two-week morbidity among LBC and non-LBC.One to two matched conditional logistic regression was used to explore the influencing factors for the morbidity.Results Of the children surveyed,270 (26.42%)were LBC;of which,41 were reported suffering from diseases during previous two weeks by their caregivers,with a significantly higher two-week morbidity than that of non-LBC (15.19% vs.10.51%,χ²=4.20;P=0.040).The LBC with only mother out-migrating for work (odds ratioOR=1.87,P=0.034),with both parents out-migrating for work (OR=2.74,P=0.041),cared by grandparent (s)(OR=1.31,P=0.043) or relatives (OR=3.96,P=0.017),consuming unhygienic drinking water (OR=9.09,P=0.008) were more likely to suffer from a disease during the previous two weeks;while the LBC in a household with 4-6 family members (OR=0.37,P=0.042) or 7-9 family members (OR=0.15,P=0.027) were more unlikely to suffer from a disease during the previous two weeks.Conclusion Long-term out-migrating for work of parents,cared by grandparent (s) or relatives,and consuming unhygienic drinking water are risk factors of two-week morbidity while living in a family with more family members is a protective factor among rural leftbehind children aged ≤ 5 years in Hebei province.