Profile of paediatric emergency cases in Yemen: the need for evidence-based guidelines.
This study describes the status and characteristics of children presenting to emergency services in hospitals and health centres in Yemen in order to inform the development of guidelines for paediatric emergency services. Information was collected from 7 hospitals and 2 health centres in 5 governorates about 3454 cases, mostly aged < 2 years old. The majority of paediatric emergency cases were due to respiratory system problems (28.6%) and gastrointestinal problems (25.5%); 36.4% of children presented with a duration of complaint exceeding 4 days. One-third of cases (33.2%) were treated with 3rd generation cephalosporins alone or in combination with other antibiotics. The mortality rate was 1.9%. The most important causes of death were cardiac and respiratory failure.
Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana'a University, Sana'a, Yemen.
A A
AA
Ishak
N H
NH
Al-Jayefy
Y A
YA
Raja'a
D000328:Adult; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D046688:Child Mortality; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D006302:Health Services Research; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D015006:Yemen / Q000453:epidemiology