Risk factors for predicting diarrheal duration and morbidity in children with acute diarrhea.

OBJECTIVE

To identify baseline risk factors for prolonged diarrheal duration and subsequent complications in children aged 6 to 59 mo with acute diarrhea who participated in a micronutrient clinical trial in a tertiary care hospital.

METHODS

The adjusted odds ratio or incidence risk ratios (IRR) of the baseline variables for prolongation of diarrheal duration (cox proportional hazard model), diarrhea >7 d (multiple logistic regressions), severe dehydration experienced after hospitalization (poisson regression models) was estimated.

RESULTS

Fever (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02-1.19, p = 0.02), dehydration (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.10-1.59, p = 0.003), dysentery (OR 1.41 95% CI 1.09-1.82, p = 0.008), those who received medications (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.03-1.39, p = 0.02), and weight for age Z-score ≤2 (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.07-1.46, p = 0.004) were at a greater risk of prolonged diarrhea. Diarrhea >7 d was associated with younger age (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.03-1.14, p = 0.003), female child (OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.19-4.55, p = 0.013), diarrheal duration before enrolment (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.04-1.09, p < 0.001), fever (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.23-2.49, p = 0.002) and the weight for age Z-score ≤2 (OR 4.32, 95% CI 2.03-9.16, p < 0.001). Severe dehydration after hospitalization was associated with dehydration at baseline (OR 6.7, 95% CI 2-3.0, p < 0.001), incomplete immunization (OR 3.33, 95% CI 1.5-7.69, p < 0.001), failure to receive any medication(OR 3.03, 95% CI 1.26-7.14, p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Few studies assess risk factors for diarrheal morbidity prospectively. The present study showed that children of acute diarrhea with above risk factors need stricter monitoring for complications to reduce diarrheal mortality.