Investigation of environmental hygiene and diarrhea among rural residents in Hubei Province, China, 2017-2020

To investigate the relationship between diarrhea in rural families and households' environmental hygiene and hygiene behaviors through a survey of rural environmental hygiene in Hubei province, China from 2017 to 2020, and to provide a scientific reference for improving rural environmental hygiene and reducing rural residents' incidence of diarrhea in Hubei province.

Methods A total of 8 000 rural households were selected by stratified random sampling from 20 counties of Hubei province to investigate the incidence of diarrhea and the status of household hygiene. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the main factors affecting the incidence of diarrhea.

Results The environmental hygiene conditions were improved, good health habits increased year by year, as well as the incidence of diarrhea in the past two weeks among the surveyed households from 2017 to 2020 was 2.82%. The annual incidence decreased year by year (χ² = 42.20, P < 0.001). The main risk factors for diarrhea included the use of agricultural films (OR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.08-1.92), pesticides (OR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.12-2.29) and the signs of rats in the kitchen (OR = 2.03, 95% CI: 1.48-2.79).

Conclusion Residents' hygiene behaviors and households' environmental hygiene in rural areas of Hubei province have significant improvement in recent years, but there is still much room for promotion. We recommend rural residents to reduce the use of agricultural films and pesticides, improve the awareness of environmental and personal hygiene, and promote good hygiene habits.