Evaluation of the relationship between blood gas parameters and emergency service monitoring room hospitalization time period of 0-18 years old patients with rotavirus infection

Objective: Gastroenteritis in childhood is one of the major public health problems that can result in morbidity and mortality. The most common cause of infectious acute gastroenteritis under five years of age is Rotavirus (RV). Although serological methods have been developed for definite diagnosis, it is not always easy to reach these methods. The main aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between blood gas parameters taken from patients with positive RV antigens and the duration of emergency room observation and the duration of hospital stay. Materials and methods: This retrospective study included 237 patients aged between 0 and 18 years,whose RV antigens were positively admitted to the outpatient or emergency clinic of Adiyaman University Faculty of Medicine, Education and Research Hospital. Patients were divided into groups according to their age, sex, blood gas parameters, hemogram, biochemical values, duration of emergency observation room, and length of stay in child service. Demographic data, blood gas, hematolological and biochemistry parameters of all patients were recorded. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 program (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, United States). Fischerneys Exact analysis method, Kolmogrov-Smirnov test, Student t-test, Chi-square and Mann-Whitney-u tests were used to compare the data. Results: In Group 1 and Group 2 patients, pH, pO2, HCO3 parameters and MPV values of hematological parameters were statistically significant. in RV positive patients, corelation of pH value of blood gas in the emergency observation room and observation time was statistically significant. No correlation was found between the blood gas parameters and the length of hospitalization in service. Conclusion: Since blood gas analysis in rotavirus gastroenteritis does not foresee a hospitalization period, but patients with low pH in blood gas analysis have shorter duration of stay in the emergency room, a blood gas analysis should be performed in patients diagnosed with rotavirus gastroenteritis in the emergency department. Key words: Rotavirus, blood gas analysis, gastroenteritis, childhood