BACKGROUNDAnaemia is ubiquitous and has a global prevalence, more so in developing countries. Globally, anaemia affects 1.62 billion people, which corresponds to 24.8% of the population and the highest prevalence is noted in preschool-age children (47.4%). Anaemia is a major health problem in India. Iron deficiency, the most common cause for anaemia can be effectively prevented and in case already developed, can be easily treated by simple measures. Hence, there is a dire necessity for comprehensive studies to determine the prevalence of anaemia in children. MATERIALS AND METHODSThis is a retrospective descriptive study conducted at Institute of Child Health, Government Medical College, Kottayam. Data pertaining to gender, age, weight, serum haemoglobin level, diagnosis that led to admission and duration of hospitalisation were collected. The WHO criteria (haemoglobin < 11 g/dL) were used to diagnose anaemia. Chi-square test was used to find the association between grades of anaemia and various study parameters. RESULTSPrevalence of anaemia was 56.1% in the study group with 28.7%, 25.3% and 2.1% as mild, moderate and severe anaemia respectively. Proportion of anaemic cases decreased with age, varying from 71.3% in children between 6 and 12 months to 31.5% in children >36 months. CONCLUSIONA large proportion of hospitalised children less than 5 years of age were found anaemic. Among all the anaemic children, iron deficiency anaemia was high and it should be considered as a public health problem.
BACKGROUNDSepsis is a recognised cause of morbidity and mortality in the new-borns in the developing countries. Sepsis is well-defined as a "clinical syndrome characterised by systemic signs/ symptoms and bacteraemia during the 1 st month of life." Neonatal sepsis, a serious illness but curable if identified early. Non-specific signs/ symptoms make it very challenging to formulate a timely clinical diagnosis. Neonatal physicians are looking for a test that would help in neonatal sepsis diagnosis, quickly confirming it and decisively ruling it out. Diagnostic tests like blood cultures are time consuming, so correct diagnosis gets delayed. CRP is very sensitive in detecting negative cases of neonatal sepsis. It is simple, easy and gives early results. Aim: To find out validity of C-reactive protein in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis in comparison with blood culture in terms of-1. Sensitivity, 2. Specificity, 3. Positive predictive value and 4. Negative predictive value. MATERIALS AND METHODSAn observational (validation) study was conducted in the NICU and SCNU at Institute of Child Health, Government Medical College, Kottayam to assess validity of CRP for diagnosis of neonatal sepsis in comparison with blood culture. After taking informed consent from parents and permission from Ethical Committee, neonates brought to neonatology unit were selected by purposive sampling technique. Sample size was 90. All neonates having suspected neonatal sepsis were included. Suspected neonatal sepsis was considered if neonates had features of perinatal risk factors, i.e. maternal pyrexia (within 1 week prenatal and/ or 48 hours postnatal), prolonged rupture of membranes (18 hours), foul smelling vaginal discharge or maternal urinary tract infection in last month. Neonates having unexplained hypothermia/ hyperthermia, lethargy, irritability, poor feeding, respiratory dysfunctionapnoea (> 10 secs), tachypnoea (> 60 breaths/minute), cardiovascular dysfunction-persistent tachycardia (> 160 beats/min) or bradycardia (< 100 beats/min), poor peripheral circulation, hypotonia or circumoral cyanosis or pallor were also included. Babies with birth asphyxia, birth weight < 1500 grams, < 32 weeks gestation and who already had taken antibiotics were excluded. All neonates included in the study were started on empirical antibiotics after drawing samples for blood cultures and CRP. CRP was read as negative when less than 10 mg/dL and positive when level was more than 10 mg/dL. Blood culture was followed for growth for 7 days. Data collection tool was a pre-tested proforma. Analysis was done using SPSS 23. RESULTSThe analysis included a total number of 100 infants. Data was analysed by SPSS version 23. The baseline characteristics of the study group were comparable in terms of birth weight, gestational age, postnatal age, type of delivery and gender. In this study, CRP was compared to blood culture and was found to have good validity with sensitivity 72.27%, specificity 74.15%, positive likelihood ratio 2.75, negative likelihood ratio 0.37, posi...
BACKGROUND Wide-ranging differences in growth exist between full-term babies born with normal weight and those born prematurely. With the exception of infants with severe impairment, infants weighing less than 1500 grams are likely to remain smaller than their normal weight peers at adolescence. WHO defines low birth weight infants as those born with birth weight less than 2500 grams. It is further subdivided into Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) babies: Birth weight < 1500 grams and Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) babies: Birth weight < 1000 grams. Aim-To compare the growth of VLBW babies versus ELBW babies till one year of corrected age. MATERIALS AND METHODSPartially cohort study design in which 60 babies in two groups; Group 1 of 30 babies (extremely low birth weight, i.e. < 1000 gms) and Group 2 of 30 babies (very low birth weight, i.e. < 1500 gms) were followed up till one year of corrected age. Follow-up was done at 3 rd , 6 th , 9 th and 12 th month of corrected age. RESULTSIn this study of total 60 neonates, 30 were ELBW babies and 30 were VLBW babies. In this study, the mean birth weight of ELBW babies was 870 grams and mean birth weight of VLBW babies was 1.2 kg. In this study, there exists a significant difference in the Gestational age of babies in the ELBW and VLBW group. In the ELBW group babies, mean gestational age was 29 weeks which was less than the gestational age of babies in VLBW group, which was 30.03 weeks. On the follow-up of growth at 12 months of corrected age, babies who weighed less than 3 rd centile consisted of 73.1% of ELBW babies and 26.9% of VLBW babies. There was statistical difference between two groups. At 12 months of corrected age, babies whose length was less than 3 rd centile consisted of 53.8% of ELBW babies and 46.2% of VLBW babies, which was statistically insignificant. During follow-up at 12 months of corrected age, babies whose head circumference was less than 1 st centile consisted of 54.5% of ELBW babies and 45.5% of VLBW babies which was statistically insignificant. CONCLUSIONIn this study, on comparing the two groups the growth of ELBW babies faltered more compared to their VLBW counterparts during this one-year follow-up study.
BACKGROUNDPoisoning among children is one of the most common emergencies in everyday practices, but it received little attention. It remains a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality.The objectives of this study were to find out clinical and sociodemographic profile of children admitted with poisoning in the age group of one month to twelve years and to bring out the predisposing factors that lead to poisoning in above children. MATERIALS AND METHODSA hospital-based descriptive study was conducted in a tertiary centre in Kottayam. All cases of poisoning during the period of one year was included in the study. Data was collected by direct interview using verbal questionnaire and from case sheets.
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