Khaled Kasim, Soliman Amer, Mohamed Mosaad, Alaa Abdel-Wahed, Hazem Allam
Cutaneous warts are common in children worldwide, a lthough the prevalence figures are conflicting. There are few publications on that issue, particula rly in rural Egypt. The present cross sectional stu dy aimed to assess the prevalence of warts of hands in rural primary school children and to examine some risk factors associated with warts in these ch ildren. The study examined 1833 children from 15 rural primary schools in Dakahlia governorate, Egyp t, for the presence of warts. Data about sociodemographic, lifestyle and environmental facto rs were collected. Prevalence of warts was estimated. A nested case-control approach was desig ned to examine possible risk factors associated with warts. Appropriate statistical analyses includ ing multivariate logistic regression were done. The prevalence of warts of hands in the studied childre n was 2.3% (1.3-3.3%) with no significant sex difference. The risk of warts was increased signifi cantly in children reported swimming in Nile channels (odds ratio (OR) = 5.6; 95% confidence int erval (CI) = 2.9-10.6), and child labor (OR= 4.5; 9 5% CI = 2.3–8.8). A ninety percent risk reduction, how ever, was observed in children with educated parents. The study findings demonstrated a signific ant increase in the risk of warts among rural children reported swimming in Nile channels and chi ld labor. Parents’ education, on the other hand, was found to play an important role in risk reducti on.
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