Related Experiment Videos
[Characteristics of persistent diarrhea in pediatric services in Tunis]
F Khaldi1, A Ben Mansour, B Ben Naceur
1Service de médecine infantile A, hôpital d'Enfants de Tunis, Tunisie.
Insights
Persistent diarrhea (PD) in young children is often linked to bottle-feeding and poor feeding practices. Early intervention is crucial for reducing morbidity and mortality in developing regions.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
Context:
- Persistent diarrhea (PD) is a significant cause of illness and death in developing countries.
- Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to severe outcomes from prolonged diarrhea.
Purpose:
- To retrospectively analyze socio-economic factors, feeding practices, nutritional status, and clinical data of children under five admitted with persistent diarrhea.
- To identify risk factors contributing to persistent diarrhea in a Tunisian pediatric population.
Summary:
- A study of 74 children under five admitted for persistent diarrhea (14-30 days) revealed that most were under 12 months and from impoverished families.
- Key risk factors identified include bottle-feeding, abrupt cessation of dietary intake during illness, acute malnutrition, and a history of acute diarrhea.
- Severe dehydration was common, and three deaths were recorded, highlighting the severity of persistent diarrhea.
Impact:
- Findings underscore the importance of addressing bottle-feeding, nutritional errors, and maternal awareness of acute diarrhea history in preventing persistent diarrhea.
- This research contributes to understanding PD etiology in specific populations, informing targeted public health interventions.
Background:
Persistent diarrhea (PD) is recognized as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the developing world.
Patients And Methods:
The files of all children, less than 5 years of age, admitted in 1990 and 1991 for diarrhea persisting from 14 to 30 days have been retrospectively analysed. Socio-economic factors, history of disease, changes in feeding, nutritional status and clinical data of the DP have been specially recorded.
Results:
During these 2 years, 74 children were admitted (93% of them were less than 12 months old). Two-thirds of the patients were issued from suburban-living poor families. DP was more frequent during September and October (42%), the usual period of malnutrition. Although only 23% of the mothers had reported history of acute diarrhea, 35% of them did not exclude it. Sixty-nine percent of the children were breast-fed and 82% were bottle-fed before 12 months of age. Dietary intake was stopped during the acute episode in 52% of cases. There were no chronic malnutrition, but 69% of patients were suffering from acute malnutrition. Dehydration was present in most cases and was severe in 33% of them. Death occurred in three children.
Conclusions:
These results show that, among usual risk factors of PD bottle-feeding, diet errors and history of acute diarrhea seem to be particularly frequent in this Tunisian population.