Ketema L, Lulseged S
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine, Addis Ababa University.
Ethiop Med J. 1997 Jul;35(3):161-8.
Acute diarrhoea is a major public health problem in Ethiopian children under five years of age. Reports for other developing countries indicate that persistent diarrhoea is emerging as an important cause of mortality and morbidity in this age group. Little is, however, known about the extent of the condition in our setting. The socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of children with persistent diarrhoea seen at a teaching hospital in Addis Ababa over an 18-month period is presented. Of 5,762 children with all forms of diarrhoea seen during the study period 264 (5%) had persistent diarrhoea. Most of the children (83%) were below 18 months of age and the peak occurrence was between the ages of seven and 12 months. The majority (86%) of the patients had associated malnutrition and 83% of the infants under four months of age were either fully or partially weaned. Watery diarrhoea with no dehydration was the main clinical feature. Nearly 7% of the patients had dysentery. Average family income was low and parental literacy level seem to have had no effect. It is suggested that breastfeeding and appropriate weaning practices be strongly promoted. Further work is proposed in order to determine the magnitude of the problem and identify the risk factors associated with the disease, including the unfavourable child and family unit characteristics and care seeking behaviours.
急性腹泻是埃塞俄比亚五岁以下儿童面临的一个主要公共卫生问题。其他发展中国家的报告表明，持续性腹泻正在成为这个年龄组死亡和发病的一个重要原因。然而，我们对本国这种疾病的严重程度了解甚少。本文介绍了在亚的斯亚贝巴一家教学医院就诊的持续性腹泻儿童的社会人口统计学和临床特征。在研究期间所见的5762例患有各种形式腹泻的儿童中，264例（5%）患有持续性腹泻。大多数儿童（83%）年龄在18个月以下，发病高峰在7至12个月龄之间。大多数患者（86%）伴有营养不良，4个月以下婴儿中有83%已完全或部分断奶。无脱水的水样腹泻是主要临床特征。近7%的患者患有痢疾。家庭平均收入较低，父母的识字水平似乎没有影响。建议大力推广母乳喂养和适当的断奶做法。为了确定该问题的严重程度并识别与该疾病相关的风险因素，包括不利的儿童和家庭特征以及就医行为，建议开展进一步的工作。
