[Acute diarrhea: does mother's knowledge of the disease reduce admission of children under two years of age?].

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the relationship of mother's knowledge about signs of dehydration, causes and management of acute diarrhea with admission of children under two years of age with the disease.

METHODS

A nested cross-sectional and case-control study was carried out with children who were admitted at the "Instituto Materno Infantil de Pernambuco" with acute diarrhea: and control children admitted with other diseases. Variables were: patient admission having or not acute diarrhea (dependent); social-economic condition, nutritional state; duration of breastfeeding; mother's knowledge about acute diarrhea and its management (independent). The Epi-info software, 6.0 was used for analysis.

RESULTS

There was statistical association between patient admission with acute diarrhea and poor social-economic conditions (p = 0.01); malnutrition (p = 0.01); short time of breastfeeding (p = 0.01), lack of mother's knowledge about how to avoid dehydration (p = 0.05) and effectiveness of oral rehydration solutions (p = 0.02). There was no statistical association with knowledge about causes, signs of dehydration or management of acute diarrhea.

CONCLUSIONS

The study disclosed association between admission of children under two years of age with acute diarrhea and poor social-economic conditions; short time of breastfeeding, malnutrition, mother's lack of knowledge on how to avoid dehydration and effectiveness of oral rehydration solutions. Data suggests that lack of mother's knowledge reflects poor social-economic conditions.