Spatial distribution of watery diarrhoea in children: identification of “risk areas” in a rural community in Bangladesh

To assess the geographic variation of acute watery diarrhoea in children 0 to 5 years old in rural Bangladesh, all cases of "cholera-like" diarrhoea were plotted on the map. A clustering pattern was noticed, and validated by a nonparametric clustering test for in-homogeneous population. Several risk areas for the disease were identified. In these areas, the point prevalence (8.7/1000) was notably higher than outside the areas (0.41/1000), (95% confidence interval, 15.55-29.30). Parents' education, population density and use of sanitary latrines were significantly related to the risk areas (p < or = 0.001). The results of this study indicate that computer-assisted mapping may be useful in defining and monitoring risk areas for watery diarrhoea in children.