Aetiology of chronic diarrhoea in children: experience at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Forty-eight cases of chronic diarrhoea in children seen at King Khalid University Hospital over a 5-year period were analysed. The mean age at presentation was 1.8 years (range 0.08-10 years); 34 were boys and 14 girls. Forty-four patients were Saudi and four were non-Saudi Arabs. Most children presented with failure to thrive and pallor. The aetiological factors identified were: the post-gastro-enteritis syndrome with or without lactose intolerance in 16 (33%); coeliac disease in ten (21%); congenital chloride diarrhoea in five (10%); glucose-galactose malabsorption and acrodermatitis enteropathica, each in three (6%); ulcerative colitis, intestinal lymphangiectasia, cow's milk protein intolerance and ataxia telangiectasia, each in two (4%); and giardiasis, immune deficiency and cystic fibrosis, each in one (2%). Five children died.