Prevalence of Chronic Diseases Among Elementary School Students in Şanlıurfa, Turkey

OpenAlex İngilizce

The American Nurses Association has stated that increasing studies show a positive relationship between school attendance and academic achievement in schools with school nurses (5-11).Hill and Hollis reported that elementary school students' learning time increased with the school nurse; otherwise, teachers spent an extra hour teaching (12).Even a study reported that for each US dollar invested in a school nursing İstanbul Med J 2023; 24(2): 191-5 Introduction: Chronic diseases, one of the main reasons for morbidity and mortality in all ages, are becoming a significant health problem all over the world in recent times.The population of children with chronic diseases is increasing day by day.While chronic illnesses make life difficult for school-age children, they have a detrimental impact on academic progress.Therefore, studies on this topic are required to improve their quality of life and reduce chronic disease morbidity and mortality rates.This study determines the prevalence of chronic diseases and children's health conditions in elementary school students aged 5 to 12 years.Methods: This research was designed as a descriptive and cross-sectional study.Between September 2018 and June 2019, 158,445 students in 45 elementary schools in central Şanlıurfa was screened for chronic diseases.The sample was composed of 125 students diagnosed with chronic disease by a doctor.Results: The prevalence of chronic diseases was determined as 78.89 for every 100,000 students [95% confidence interval (CI), 66.1-94.0].Asthma (29.6%), epilepsy (14.4%), and hypertension (10.4%) were found as the three most prevalent diseases, and for every 100,000 students, their prevalence was determined as 23.35 (95% CI: 17.0-32.2),11.36 (95% CI: 7.0-18.3),and 8.2 (95% CI: 5.0-14.0),respectively.Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study examining the prevalence of chronic diseases and health conditions in the elementary school population.According to the results, the prevalence of chronic diseases was found to be very high among elementary school students and students' health was not at the desired and expected level.Taking into account the results of this study, the employment of school nurses seems a necessity, especially in order to increase students' life quality and school success.