Clinical characteristics and influencing factors of infectious diarrhea in preschool children: An observational study
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Published on: August 22, 2012
Mu-Heng Chen1, Su-Han Deng1, Ming-Huan Wang2
1Department of Pediatrics, The Fenghua People's Hospital, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China.
Insights
Infectious diarrhea in preschoolers is linked to pathogens like Salmonella and Rotavirus, often from food. Prevention includes hygiene, vaccination, and diet.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
Background:
- Infectious diarrhea is a prevalent illness in preschool-aged children.
- Identifying specific pathogens, sources, and contributing factors is crucial for effective prevention and treatment strategies.
- Existing knowledge on the epidemiology of infectious diarrhea in this age group requires further elucidation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the common pathogenic species and origins of infectious diarrhea in preschool children.
- To identify demographic, environmental, and behavioral factors influencing the incidence of infectious diarrhea.
- To determine risk and protective factors associated with infectious diarrhea in this population.
Main Methods:
- A case-control study involving 260 preschool children with infectious diarrhea and 260 healthy controls.
- Data collection included medical records review and structured interviews (face-to-face or telephone) to gather information on demographics, exposure history, hygiene, and diet.
- Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were employed to identify significant risk and protective factors.
Main Results:
- Salmonella, rotavirus, shigella, vibrio, and norovirus were the most frequent pathogens.
- Peak incidence occurred in winter and summer months, with food identified as a common source.
- Key risk factors included exposure to diarrhea and indoor presence of flies/cockroaches; protective factors included rotavirus vaccination, hand hygiene, tableware disinfection, food preparation practices, and lactobacillus intake.
Conclusions:
- Infectious diarrhea in preschool children exhibits diverse causative agents and origins.
- Environmental exposures and poor hygiene practices are significant risk factors.
- Implementing preventive measures such as vaccination, promoting hygiene, and dietary interventions can significantly reduce the burden of infectious diarrhea.
Abstract:
Infectious diarrhea is a common disease in preschool children, but the pathogenic species, origins, and influencing factors remain debatable. Therefore, more studies are required to solve these debatable topics. A number of 260 eligible preschool children diagnosed with infectious diarrhea in our hospital were enrolled in the infection group. Meanwhile, a number of 260 matched healthy children from the health center were enrolled in the control group. The pathogenic species and origins, the time of onset of infectious diarrhea in the infection group, demographic data, exposure history, hygiene habits, dietary habits, and other variables in both groups were initially collected from medical documents. In addition, a questionnaire was used to complete and confirm study variables through face-to-face or telephone interviews. Then, the univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to screen the influencing factors of infectious diarrhea. Among 260 infected children, salmonella (15.77%), rotavirus (13.85%), shigella (11.54%), vibrio (10.38%), and norovirus (8.85%) were the top 5 common pathogens; January (13.85%), December (12.69%), August (12.31%), February (11.92%), and July (8.46%) were the top 5 frequent times of infectious diarrhea. The distribution of onset time for infectious diarrhea was commonly found in winter and summer, and the pathogens always originated from foods. The results of multivariate regression analysis showed that recent exposure to diarrhea, flies, and/or cockroaches indoors were the 2 risk factors for infectious diarrhea; Meanwhile, rotavirus vaccination, regular hand-washing, tableware disinfection, separate preparation of cooked and raw foods, and regular intake of lactobacillus products were the 5 protective factors for infectious diarrhea in preschool children. Infectious diarrhea has a diversity of pathogenic species, origins, and influencing factors in preschool children. Activities focusing on these influencing factors such as rotavirus vaccination, consumption of lactobacillus products, and other conventional factors would be beneficial to preschool children's health.
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