title: Post-diphtheritic neuropathy: a clinical study in paediatric intensive care unit of a developing country.
abstract: A retrospective study was done on 48 consecutive patients with clinical diagnosis of post-diphtheritic neuropathy admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit of tertiary care hospital in North India between January 2008 and December 2010 to study the clinical profile of post-diphtheritic neuropathy in children. The case records were reviewed and information regarding personal details, clinical features, recovery parameters and outcome was recorded using a predesigned proforma. Median age was 4.25 years. All cases were unimmunized. Median latency period was 15 days. Of the children, 52% had palatal palsy whereas 48% had limb weakness initially. Median duration of progression of weakness was five days. Limb muscle weakness was present in 94%. Respiratory muscles were involved in 85.4% cases and 60.4% required mechanical ventilation, while 14.6% had fatal outcome and 10.4% had hypoxic neurological injury. Boys were affected more. Median duration of latency was shorter; muscle weakness, progression and recovery were faster as compared with observational studies in adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Lady Hardinge Medical College and associated Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital, New Delhi, India. drskumar811@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Sandeep Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kanwal
authors.forename: Dinesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.forename: Viswas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chhapola
authors.forename: Virendra
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003353:Corynebacterium diphtheriae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003906:Developing Countries; D004165:Diphtheria / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000209:etiology; D010159:Palate / Q000503:physiopathology; D010243:Paralysis / Q000209:etiology; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012132:Respiratory Muscles; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult