Prevalence and Associated Factors of Diarrhoea During Peak Season at a Tertiary Hospital in Southeast Nigeria

Introduction: Diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old especially in developing countries, and this is responsible for killing around 525, 000 children every year. The commonest cause of diarrhoea in children is rotavirus. In the tropics, more cases of diarrhoea occur during the dry season (between Oct- April) and this also corresponds to the peak seasonality period of the rota virus infection. Rotavirus vaccine is yet to become one of the free vaccines in Nigeria hence, children here still suffer from severe form of the rota virus infection.

Objectives: The study’s aim was to determine the prevalence and other associated factors of diarrhoea during the disease peak period at a tertiary hospital in South East Nigeria.

Method: Data of children who had diarrhoea and presented to the Children Emergency Room between October 2018- March 2019 was extracted from their records. Data was analysed using the SPSS version 22.

Results: A total of 1,167 children were seen at the Children emergency room during the period under study and of this 377 children had diarrhoea giving a prevalence of 32.3%. Males accounted for 56.6% of these cases. 82.8% of the children had severe to moderate dehydration with 1.6% of them having hypovolemic shock. The commonest age affected was the 12month old (13.3%) however the mean age of affected children was 20months. A total of 8 (2.4%) children died and the average duration of hospital stay was 2 days.

Conclusion: The study shows that diarrhoea is still here with us and more work needs to be done in making sure that our children don’t die from the disease. More health education to care givers and more advocacy is needed so as to ensure that the rotavirus vaccine is free.