Prevalence of head lice and it's related factors in the primary school students in Sanandaj 1378

Pediculosis capitis is one of the most important health care problems among students in Sanandaj city. Close physical contact among students provides favorable conditions for transmission of this parasite to other students. Pediculosis capitis is a health problem, and has advers psychological and social effects. This research was carried out to study the prevalence of head lice and to determine the related factors with this problem. This research was a descriptive-analytical one. After calculating sample volume, the stratified sampling method was used to select a boys` and a girls` school in every region randomly. Cases were selected based on the required sample by using the school list of students` name. The required information was obtained by questionnair and interview. In this research 1195 student from 18 boys` and girls` primary schools were examined. Result showed that contamination rate is 19.7%. There was a significant relation between contamination by louse and every of the following factors including sex, interval of bathing, using common personal tools, previous louse contamination, personal hygiene, family help in doing personal hygiene, educational degree of parents, parent’s job, number of family members and presence of a bath room at home, while no significant relation was found between this contamination and hair style. The maximum contamination rate(57%) was among the students of the second and third grade of the primary school. The results showed that the variables including contamination of females, bathing interval, using other person’s personal tools, history of previous louse contamination, family help in doing personal health affairs, educational degree of parents, father’s job, number of family members and presence of a bathroom at home are compatible with other investigations. Howere the results regarding hair style contradict the observations from other investigations. It seems that cultural differences influence the results of our study rendering it to be either compatible or incompatible with other research works.