title: Persistent diarrhoea in children admitted to Port Moresby General Hospital.
abstract: A retrospective study of the records of children admitted to Port Moresby General Hospital with diarrhoea during 1992 and 1993 was carried out to determine the morbidity, mortality and risk factors associated with persistent diarrhoea. 858 admissions of children under five years of age who had diarrhoea were identified from the ward admission registers, and case records for 724 were studied. Persistent diarrhoea occurred in 20%, and nearly half of these were in the 12-23 months age group. Children with persistent diarrhoea had a case fatality rate of 4.9%. Seasonality was similar for both persistent and non-persistent diarrhoea. In the crude analysis children of 12 months and older had a greater risk of developing persistent diarrhoea than those less than 12 months (odds ratio for children 12-23 months was 2.0 and for children 24-59 months 1.7; confidence intervals were 1.2-3.1 and 1.0-2.9 respectively); however, this difference was not found after logistic regression analysis. Poor nutritional status was a significant risk factor for persistent diarrhoea and remained so after controlling for confounding variables (odds ratio 2.7; confidence interval 1.8-4.0).
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sleigh
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vince
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Danaya
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ogle
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D009752:Nutritional Status; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010219:Papua New Guinea / Q000453:epidemiology; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012621:Seasons; D012737:Sex Factors