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Back ground:-There are many reasons for children to under perform at school, such as,
medical problems including Intestinal parasitosis, below average intelligence, specific
learning disability, attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, emotional problems, a poor
socio-cultural home environment, psychiatric disorders, or even environmental causes
Objective: - The objective of this study was to assess the effect of Intestinal parasitic
infection on academic performance of school children in Arb-Gebeya Town, T/Gayint
Woreda, S/Gondar, Ethiopia.
Methods: - A cross sectional survey was conducted in school children for assessment of
the effect of Intestinal Parasitic Infection on Academic Performance in Arb-Gebeya
Town. Sample sizes of 601 school children from grades 5th -8th were assessed using
standardized, closed ended and coded questionnaire. In addition, physical examination,
parasitological laboratory examinations and anthropometric measurements were
conducted to assess the nutritional status of the school children.
Result: - Out of 601 students who had stool examination, 216 of them had at least one
parasite. Therefore, the overall Intestinal Parasitic Infection (IPI) rate (prevalence) was
216(35.9%). Of those, the dominant parasite was amoeba 80(13.3%), followed by ascaris
50(8.3%). The presence of double infection was only 8(1.3%) and other parasites were
only 15(2.5%). Students who had parasitic infection were less likely to achieve higher
academic performance than those who hadn’t (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.41-0.83). The
prevalence of under weight (BMI below the 5th percentile) in the area was 30 (5%), 481
(80%) had normal weight (BMI between the 5th and 85th percentile), 60 (10%) were at
risk of overweight (BMI value between 85th and 95th percentile). Thirty (5%) of students
were overweight. There was no any significant difference in being in a state of under
weight between male (4.7%) and female (5.5%). Nutritional status didn’t show any
association with academic performance(X2=6.046, P-value 0.109).
Conclusion: - Presence of Intestinal parasitic infection could affect school performance
negatively. But the presence of one or more intestinal parasites did not indicate any effect
or association with school performance. Underweight, overweight and obesity were less
prevalent. Nutritional status has no any effect on academic performance in the study.
Thus, it needs further investigation employing other techniques and study designs. |
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