title: Management of acute childhood diarrhoea in Saudi Arabia: practices versus the WHO recommendations.
abstract: The fluid management of 247 infants and children who were admitted to King Fahad Hospital at Al Baha, Saudi Arabia with acute diarrhoea was reviewed. Half of them were infants and 25% were exclusively breast fed. Although dehydration was mild in 149 (60.3%) patients and 227 (92.7%) were at the most moderately dehydrated, as many as 95.8% were given intravenous (IV) hydration at least initially. This indicates that the WHO recommendation to prescribe oral rehydrating solution (ORS) for the control of diarrhoeal diseases, is still not implemented at some of the regional hospitals in Saudi Arabia, and emphasizes the need for urgent and effective efforts to rectify this situation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: al-Jurayyan
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: al-Nasser
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: al-Rashed
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: al-Mugeiren
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: al-Mayzad
authors.forename: Y A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: al-Eissa
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003681:Dehydration / Q000209:etiology; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005440:Fluid Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014944:World Health Organization