THE PREVALENCE AND PATTERNS OF ACUTE WATERY DIARRHOEAL ADMISSIONS PRESENTING TO A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

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Background: Globally, acute watery diarrhea (AWD) is a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. It is the fourth leading cause of death in children contributing as high as 11% of all childhood deaths. In Nigeria, AWD causes 240,106 under five deaths per year despite the interventions aimed at preventing diarrhoea disease. Objective: This work was to determine the prevalence and patterns of acute watery diarrhoeal admissions among children presenting to Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra state, Nigeria. Methods and Materials: This was an observational study. Children aged 6-36 months, admitted for acute watery diarrhea, who met inclusion criteria and whose caregivers gave informed consent. The caregivers of these children were interviewed using interviewer-administered questionnaire. Information obtained included socio-demography (age, gender, social class among others), symptoms of diarrhoea, duration of illness and medications given to these children at home. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21. Results: Of the159 study participants admitted for AWD, 103(65.0%) were males. Those of lower socio-economic class comprised 66.6%(106) while 49(30.6%) and 4(2.8%) belonged to the middle and upper socio-economic classes respectively. A total of 921 inpatients were admitted for the period of the study (January 2017 to October 2017), giving an AWD prevalence of 17.3%(159). The highest number of admissions occurred from January to March 2017, with highest prevalence in March. There is poor utilization of oral rehydration solution (40.3%; 64) with abuse of antibiotics in the home management of diarrhea. Conclusion and recommendations: The result of this study showed that the prevalence of AWD is still unacceptably high. Interventions aimed at prevention (such as promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, health education on hand and environmental hygiene, and inclusion of rota virus and cholera vaccine in our national program on immunisation etc) should be encouraged and strengthened by the policy makers and monitored for proper uptake by the populace. Key words: Prevalence, Acute watery diarrhoea, children, Admissions

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