Association between climate variability and hospital visits for non-cholera diarrhoea in Bangladesh: effects and vulnerable groups

BACKGROUND: We estimated the effects of rainfall and temperature on the number of non-cholera diarrhoea cases and identified population factors potentially affecting vulnerability to the effect of the climate factors in Dhaka, Bangladesh. METHODS: Weekly rainfall, temperature and number of hospital visits for non-cholera diarrhoea were analysed by time-series regression. A Poisson regression model was used to model the relationships controlling for seasonally varying factors other than the weather variables. Modifications of weather effects were investigated by fitting the models separately to incidence series according to their characteristics (sex, age, socio-economic, hygiene and sanitation status). RESULTS: The number of non-cholera diarrhoea cases per week increased by 5.1% (95% CI: 3.3-6.8) for every 10 mm increase above the threshold of 52…