The burden of acute respiratory infection in children under 5 attributable to economic inequality in low- and middle-income countries

作者：Hailu Zhu, Ke Huang, Xueyan Han, Zhaoyang Pan, Hanchao Cheng, Qi Wang, Yicong Wang, Wei‐Zen Sun, Jiarun Mi, Ting Yang, Tianjia Guan, Tao Xue, Congrong Wang · 发表于：BMJ Global Health · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1136/bmjgh-2024-017409 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Impact of Light on Environment and Health、Circadian rhythm and melatonin、Optical Wireless Communication Technologies

BACKGROUND: Quantifying the disease burden among children that could potentially be reduced through improvements in individual economic status and regional economic equality can greatly benefit policy making and resource allocation. However, such quantification has rarely been done. This study aimed to assess the inequality-related burden of acute respiratory infection (ARI) (the leading cause of child mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)) among under five children. METHODS: This study integrated the Demographic and Health Survey data from 53 countries and linked individual records to a novel proxy of economic development status, the satellite night-time light (NTL). We assessed the number of children affected by ARI attributable to within-country economic disparities (eg, NTL<the country-specific 90th percentile) or within-country inequality (eg, NTL<the annual country-specific 90th percentile) from 2001 to 2019 in 133 LMICs, based on the exposure-response relationship between NTL and ARI derived from the study participants. RESULTS: The odds of experiencing ARI were decreased significantly (3.5% ((95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4% to 4.4%)) for every 10-digit number increase in NTL. The exposure-response function showed constant decreasing in the risk of ARI as NTL level increases. It is estimated that within-country economic disparities contributed to 11.0% (95% CI 6.1% to 15.6%) of all children affected by ARI in 2001, which was decreased to 8.1% (95% CI ...