Retrospective data from referral hospitals is sufficient to classify cases of intussusception by the Brighton criteria. These baseline data will be useful for monitoring when rotavirus vaccination is introduced.

Original Research ArticleSelf-medication pattern among children attending a tertiary hospital in South India: a cross-sectional study Sridevi A Naaraayan*, I. Rathinabalan, V. Seetha INTRODUCTIONWHO recognizes self-medication as an element of selfcare. 1 Self-medication is defined as the utilization of drugs to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms or the irregular or continuous use of a prescribed drug for chronic or repeated diseases or symptoms. 2 In pediatric context, self-medication implies administration of medication by the care giver without medical consultation. Although over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are meant for self-medication and are of proven efficacy and safety, their improper use due to lack of knowledge of their side effects and interactions could have serious implications, especially in extremes of ages. The main problem with self-medication with antibiotics is the emergence of resistance. 4 Economic, political and cultural factors have contributed to the growth and spread of self-medication worldwide. These include greater availability of drugs, irresponsible publicity, pressure to convert prescription only drugs to ABSTRACT Background: Administration of medications by care-givers to children without medical consultation is termed selfmedication. Published literature on self-medication pattern in Indian children is scanty. Primary objective of the study was to study the prevalence of self-medication. Secondary objectives were to study its characteristics and the relation between demographic characteristics and self-medication. Methods: This descriptive study was performed in the outpatient department of Institute of child health and hospital for children. All children between 1 month and 12 years of age who attended the outpatient department during a particular time of the day on particular days of week were included in the study. After noting down the demographic characteristics, history of self-medication was elicited. For children who self-medicated, inciting illness, name of drug, source, reason and adverse events were noted down. Prevalence of self-medication was expressed as proportion with 95% confidence interval. Relation between demographic factors and self-medication was determined using chisquare test. Results: Prevalence of self-medication was 32% (95% confidence interval 28-35%). Common illnesses leading to self-medication were fever, cough and cold. Commonly used drugs were paracetamol, anticold medications and antibiotics. Most of them used previous prescription to procure the drugs and previous experience on efficacy was the most common reason cited. Older children were more commonly self-medicated than the younger (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Self-medication is encountered in 32% of children attending the outpatient department of the hospital and is more common in older children.

Background: A wide variety of devices are available to record temperature from skin, oral or rectal mucosa and the tympanic membrane. The accuracy of different devices is varied and the primary objective of this study is to compare the diagnostic accuracy of digital thermometer against mercury in glass thermometer in children. The secondary objective was to determine the average time taken by the digital thermometer to record the temperature.Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in a pediatric ward at Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Egmore, Chennai. In all 92 febrile children aged 1 month to 12 years admitted in the ward, temperature was measured at the time of admission using both digital and mercury in glass thermometers placed in each axilla after obtaining informed consent. Concordance and discordance of both measurements were determined using Pearson Correlation coefficient and Bland altman plot. Average time taken by digital thermometer to record temperature was noted.Results: There was a good correlation between mercury and digital thermometer recordings (r=0.976, p<0.001). The Bland-Altman test showed that almost all residual values (estimated-observed) are random and the fall within the 95% confidence interval. The average time taken by the digital thermometer to record the temperature was 88.03 seconds (95% CI-54.58 to 121.49).Conclusions: Digital thermometer is as accurate as mercury in glass thermometer in recording temperature. The average time taken by the digital thermometer to record temperature is 88.03 ±17.07 seconds.

Background: As per the National Family Health Survey-4 data, 7.9% of under-five children in the state of Tamil Nadu are severely wasted. The outcome of hospitalized severe acute malnutrition (SAM) children is dependent on the comorbidities present. Objective: The objective of this study is to describe the comorbid conditions in SAM children hospitalized in a tertiary care center. Methodology: This study was a hospital-based descriptive study, conducted from July 2015 to June 2016. A total number of 200 children, who were admitted with SAM as per the World Health Organization criteria, were included in the study. Systemic illness, anemia, vitamin deficiencies, sepsis, retroviral infection, tuberculosis, pneumonia, acute gastroenteritis, urinary tract infection (UTI), measles, skin infections, and worm infestations were the comorbidities considered. Results: Among 200 hospitalized SAM children, the median (interquartile) age was 15 (11–21.75) months; there were 93 (46.5%) boys. Acute gastroenteritis (57.5%) was the most common comorbidity, followed by pneumonia (44.5%), anemia (27%), systemic illness (17%), worm infestation (13.5%), UTI (13.5%), sepsis (13%), skin infection (8%), measles (6%), vitamin deficiency (4%), retroviral infections (3.5%), and tuberculosis (1%). The case fatality rate was 10.5%. Conclusion: Prompt identification of comorbidities is crucial in hospitalized SAM children, which will pave way for their treatment, resulting in better outcomes.

Highlights Prelicensure trials of ROTAVAC® not powered to assess risk of intussusception. During ROTAVAC® rollout we assessed risk of intussusception in infants in 3 states. No increased risk of intussusception within 21 days of 1st and 2nd dose. No increased risk of intussusception within 21 days of any single dose or all 3 doses.