Anyorikeya Maria, Ameme Donne Kofi, Nyarko Kofi Mensah, Sackey Samuel Oko, Afari Edwin
Department of Epidemiology and Diseases Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana.
Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, School of Public Health, University of Ghana.
Pan Afr Med J. 2016 Oct 1;25(Suppl 1):8. doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2016.25.1.6173. eCollection 2016.
Diarrhoea is the third leading cause of hospital morbidity in children under five years in the War Memorial Hospital (WMH). With the current changes in climate, little is known about the seasonal and spatial distribution of diarrhoeal diseases in the WMH. We determined trends of diarrhoeal diseases in children under five years in the WMH.
We reviewed secondary data of children under five years who attended the WMH and were diagnosed of diarrhoea. Diarrhoea was defined as a clinician's diagnosis of the passage of three or more watery stools a day in a child under five years in the WMH. Descriptive data analysis was done and expressed as frequencies and relative frequencies. Monthly proportions of diarrhoea and rainfall figures were presented to show seasonal distributions of cases. Geographical distribution of cases was determined using Epi Info and Arc GIS.
A total of 865 diarrhoeal cases in children under five years reported to the hospital. Out of this, 425 (49.13%) were female children with 346 (40%) aged 0-11 months. The highest peak occurred in the rainy season from May to August. However, there was a weak negative relationship between diarrhoeal diseases and rainfall for the whole study period. Cases were clustered in the northeastern part of the Kassena Nankana Municipality (KNM).
The most affected age group was in 0-11months. Majority of cases were from the North Eastern part of the Municipality. There was seasonal variation of diarrhoeal diseases. Diarrhoeal diseases have the highest occurrence in the rainy season but an increase in rainfall does not necessarily lead to an increase in diarrhoeal cases. Intervention to reduce diarrhoea should be intensified before the rainy season and in the northeastern parts of the municipality.
腹泻是战争纪念医院（WMH）五岁以下儿童住院发病率的第三大主要原因。随着当前气候的变化，对于WMH腹泻疾病的季节性和空间分布知之甚少。我们确定了WMH五岁以下儿童腹泻疾病的趋势。
我们回顾了在WMH就诊并被诊断为腹泻的五岁以下儿童的二手数据。腹泻被定义为WMH中临床医生诊断出五岁以下儿童每天排出三次或更多次水样便。进行了描述性数据分析，并以频率和相对频率表示。呈现腹泻的月度比例和降雨量数据以显示病例的季节性分布。使用Epi Info和Arc GIS确定病例的地理分布。
医院共报告了865例五岁以下儿童的腹泻病例。其中，425例（49.13%）为女童，346例（40%）年龄在0至11个月之间。最高峰出现在5月至8月的雨季。然而，在整个研究期间，腹泻疾病与降雨量之间存在微弱的负相关关系。病例聚集在卡塞纳·南卡纳市（KNM）的东北部。
受影响最大的年龄组是0至11个月。大多数病例来自该市的东北部。腹泻疾病存在季节性变化。腹泻疾病在雨季发病率最高，但降雨量增加不一定会导致腹泻病例增加。应在雨季前和该市东北部加强减少腹泻的干预措施。
