Epidemiological and Clinical Profiles of Children Aged 0-71 Months Suffering from Acute Diarrhea at Kalembe-lembe Pediatric Hospital in Kinshasa City, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological, clinical and etiological profile of children aged 0-71 months suffering from acute diarrhea, admitted at the Kalembe-lembe Pediatric Hospital in 2015. Study Design: This study used a retrospective design whereby medical records of children aged 0-71 months were used. Place and Duration of Study: This survey was carried out at the Kalembe-lembe Pediatric           Hospital in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 1 and December 31, 2015. Methodology: This study used a questionnaire to collect information whereby 337 cases of acute diarrhea diagnosed at the Kalembe-lembe Pediatric Hospital were recorded, of which 324 cases were selected. The information was collected on a case-by-case basis by consulting the patient records. Data collected were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 10 while the association measures between different qualitative variables were evaluated using Chi-square test and the p-value was 0.05. Results: A predominance of cases (60.49%) was observed in children under 12 months and potentially in males (55.24%) while the majority of deaths was recorded in this same age group. The mean age of admitted children was 12.4 months and vomiting was the most reported symptom associated with diarrhea (75.61%), followed by hyperthermia (70.37%). Most of children emitted liquid stools (65.12%) and the average number of stools issued per day was 6 times with extremes ranging from 3-45 stools/day. However, we recorded high levels of identified etiologic agents in children with diarrhea compared to those reported in other countries. The identification of etiologic agents of diarrhea was performed only in 56.48% of cases. Rotaviruses, bacteria and parasites were found in 48.08%, 32.78% and 26.77% respectively. Conclusion: Further studies are needed to study the antibiotic resistance of these pathogens causing acute diarrhea and identify using molecular techniques new strains of bacteria precisely responsible for acute diarrhea and assess their epidemiological and clinical influence.