Prevalence of pediculosis capitis and determination of risk factors in primary-school children in Kerman

This descriptive, analytical study was carried out in 2003 to determine the prevalence of pediculosis capitis and some risk factors among primary-school pupils in Kerman. We selected 1200 pupils (53% girls) from 50 primary schools by multistage, systematic random sampling. Their hair was examined for head louse infestation: 45 (3.8%) were infected with lice, 43 (95.5%) girls and 2 (4.5%) boys. The highest rate of infestation was in 9-year-olds. There was a significant relationship between head louse infestation and sex (P 0.0001), age (P 0.05), parents education (P 0.0001), father s job (P 0.01), family size (P 0.01), length of hair (P 0.0001) and having separate bathing facilities in the house (P 0.0001)