Clinical profile and etiology of diarrhea more than 2 weeks duration in children aged 1 month to 12 years of age in a Pediatric tertiary care centre in Tamil Nadu

Dr S. Nantha kumar
2018 Journal of Medical Science And clinical Research  
Diarrhoea is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old. Chronic Diarrhoea has a variety of etiologies; a specific diagnosis cannot be established in all cases. Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the etiology and analyze the clinical profile of diarrhoea in children aged 1 month to 12 years lasting more than two weeks in a tertiary care centre. Methods: This was a prospective study done in children in study age group attending Gastroenterology OPD or
more » ... ed in medical /gastroenterology ward of Institute of Child Health and Hospital for children, Egmore, Chennai, satisfying the inclusion criteria during October 2016 to September 2017. Results: Mean age of onset of chronic diarrhoea in this study was 23 months. Chronic diarrhoea was more common in children less than 1yr of age (48.8%). Mean duration of diarrhoea in this study was 93.74 days. 62.7% of study population were malnourished, Vitamin A deficiency detected in 9.6%, anaemia in 69.8% of children and hypoproteinemia in 25.65%. Urinary sepsis detected in 9.3% of study population. Commonest cause of chronic diarrhoea in our study was intestinal infections (25.58%), followed by cow's milk protein allergy (20.93%) and inflammatory bowel disease (4.65%). Conclusion: Chronic diarrhoea was more common in children less than 1yr of age, 62.7% of study population was malnourished and the commonest etiology was intestinal infections followed by cow's milk protein allergy.
doi:10.18535/jmscr/v6i9.99 fatcat:35tgsjez4nhojp724z6feszbfq