Lack of effective home quarantine: The cause of the continuing prevalence of hand, foot, and mouth disease in China?

Background: Home quarantine as a non-pharmaceutical measure is a key strategy for preventing the spread of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) and herpangina (HA). However, the status of home quarantine remains unclear. This study aimed to provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of the HFMD and HA by investigating the situation and determining the factors influencing home quarantine in children with HFMD or HA. Methods: The convenience sampling method was used in this cross-sectional study involving parents whose children suffered from HFMD or HA in 2019. An online questionnaire tool was used to collect demographic information, socioeconomic status, clinical factors, sources of advice, and details of home quarantine. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the factors influencing of home quarantine. Results: A total of 3145 parents answered the electronic questionnaire; among them, 317 had children diagnosed with HFMD or HA in 2019. After quality control, 298 questionnaires were included in the analysis. The whole compliance rate of home quarantine for HFMD and HA was 59.1%. Results of multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that having grandparents as the primary caregiver (OR = 2.53, 95% CI: 1.20-5.43) was a risk factor of home-quarantine noncompliance, whereas doctor's notification (OR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.18-0.67) and advice from parents of other infected children (OR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.31-0.91) can increase the compliance with home quarantine. Conclusions: Home-quarantine measures for HFMD and HA were not well implemented. The caregivers, doctor's notification, and advice from parents of other infected children were associated with home-quarantine compliance. Corresponding measures should be taken to regulate home quarantine. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).