[Mortality in breast-fed infants with persistent diarrhea: risk factors associated with death].
OBJECTIVE
Persistent diarrhea is a frequent disease in developing countries. In this research, we studied 21 patients that passed away among 189 that were hospitalized with persistent diarrhea at the "Hospital Italo Brasileiro Umberto I Foundation", from January of 1985 until December of 1992.


METHODS
The patients were distributed into two groups: survival and dead, in accord of the clinical evolution at the end of the internment. The analyzed parameters were: birth weight, sex, age, provenance, diarrhea period before the admission, nutritional status, hydration status, coprologic results, occurrence of food intolerance, internment period and the age of ending breast-feeding.


RESULTS
The parameters that showed significantly association with the death were: age, with relative risk = 3 for children with age below 6 months old; provenance, with relative risk = 3.4 for patients who were arrived from other hospitals; third grade dehydration at the admission (relative risk = 2.9); enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) isolated in feces (relative risk = 3.3), and use of total parenteral nutrition. The etiologic research was positive in 57.1% of the cases. The enteropathogen more frequently isolated in dead group, was EPEC (42.9%), followed by Shigella (9.5%) and Salmonella (5.9%). From the isolated EPEC (35/189), 26 (74.3%) were belonged to the OIII sorogroup (6/26). From these children, 23.1% died. From the 35 patients with EPEC isolated in feces, 25 were below 6 months old, and from these one, eight died. The relative risk to die for lactents with less than 6 months old and EPEC in feces was equal 3.2. Sepsis was considered the most important cause of death for hospitalized lactents with persistent diarrhea.
de Andrade
J A
JA
Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo EPM-UNIFESP.
Gomes
T A
TA
Fagundes-Neto
U
U
D000367:Age Factors; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D014886:Weaning