Analysis of cases with acute gastroenteritis that admitted to the pediatric emergency outpatient clinic

Objectives: Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is the second most common disease after than acute respiratory diseases and it is the third most important cause of mortality globally after lower respiratory tract infections and perinatal diseases in children. The aim of this study was to analyze acute diarrhea cases that reported to the emergency outpatient clinic retrospectively. Materials and Methods: Medical records of children aging between 0-16 years that reported with AGE to Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Emergency outpatient clinic between January 01, 2007 and December 31, 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients' demographic, clinical and laboratory (whole blood count, urinalysis, stool microscopy, viral antigen test in stool) data were scanned. Stool samples were examined in the laboratory of Istanbul University, Faculty of Medicine Department of Clinical Microbiology. Latex agglutination method was used for determining Rotavirus (RV) and Adenovirus (AV) antigens. SPSS 15.0 program was applied for the statistical evaluation of the data obtained. Results: Files of a total of 645 patients were investigated in this study. Laboratory tests were done in 420 of these cases. The children's mean age was 26.9 ± 31 months, 475 (73.6 %) were in the range of 0-24 months, 580 (89.9 %) were in the range of 0-60 months. The higest frequencies of cases occured in the spring (mostly in March). The average duration of diarrhea was 2.0 ± 1.69 days and evidence of dehydration to varying degrees occurred in 30.4 % of cases. Stool microscopy was performed in 415 (64.3 %) of the 645 patients who applied; leukocyte positivity (5 and over) was detected in 56 (13.5 %) of the patients. Viral antigen determination tests were done in 152 cases; 120 (18.6 %) were RV positive, 8 (1.2 %) were positive for AV. 461 (71.4 %) of all cases were treated as outpatients, 139 (21.5 %) cases were kept under observation for 3-4 hours and 45 (6.9 %) were treated in-patiently. Conclusion: In this study, the patients' data of gender, duration of diarrhea and accompanying complaints were similar to other studies in the literature. Although analysis for RV and AV antigen was not done in all patients, the obtained data were found compatible with the data in Turkey. The fact that most of the patients were followed up without hospitalization shows that acute gastroenteritis treatment, which can be generally managed with supportive therapies, is properly maintained in emergency polyclinic. Keywords: Children, diarrhea, acute gastroenteritis