Socio-economic and environmental factors associated with high lymphatic filariasis morbidity prevalence distribution in Bangladesh

by Tijana Williams, Mohammad Jahirul Karim, Shihab Uddin, Sharmin Jahan, Sultan Mahmood ASM, Shaun P. Forbes, Anna Hooper, Mark J. Taylor, Louise A. Kelly-Hope

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a vector-borne parasitic disease which affects 70 million people worldwide and causes life-long disabilities. In Bangladesh, there are an estimated 44,000 people suffering from clinical conditions such as lymphoedema and hydrocoele, with the greatest burden in the northern Rangpur division. To better understand the factors associated with this distribution, this study examined socio-economic and environmental factors at division, district, and sub-district levels.

A retrospective ecological study was conducted using key socio-economic (nutrition, poverty, employment, education, house infrastructure) and environmental (temperature, precipitation, elevation, waterway) factors. Characteristics at division level were summarised. Bivariate analysis using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was conducted at district and sub-district levels, and negative binomial regression analyses were conducted across high endemic sub-districts (n = 132). Maps were produced of high endemic sub-districts to visually illustrate the socio-economic and environmental factors found to be significant.

The highest proportion of rural population (86.8%), poverty (42.0%), tube well water (85.4%), and primary employment in agriculture (67.7%) was found in Rangpur division.Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient at district and sub-district level show that LF morbidity prevalence was significantly (p<0.05) positively correlated with households without electricity (district r_s = 0.818; sub-district r_s = 0.559), households with tube well water (sub-district r_s = 0.291), households without toilet (district r_s = 0.504; sub-district r_s = 0.40), mean annual precipitation (district r_s = 0.695; sub-district r_s = 0.503), mean precipitation of wettest quarter (district r_s = 0.707; sub-district r_s = 0.528), and significantly negatively correlated with severely stunted children (district r_s = -0.723; sub-district r_s = -0.370), mean annual temperature (district r_s = -0.633.; sub-district r_s = 0.353) and mean temperature (wettest quarter) ((district r_s = -0.598; sub-district r_s = 0.316)Negative binomial regression analyses at sub-district level found severely stunted children (p = <0.001), rural population (p = 0.002), poverty headcount (p = 0.001), primary employment in agriculture (p = 0.018), households without toilet (p = <0.001), households without electricity (p = 0.002) and mean temperature (wettest quarter) (p = 0.045) to be significant.

This study highlights the value of using available data to identify key drivers associated with high LF morbidity prevalence, which may help national LF programmes better identify populations at risk and implement timely and targeted public health messages and intervention strategies.