Abstract :
Background: Acute infectious enteritis remains one of the commonest causes of death among infants
and children in developing countries. Acute enteritis is defined as a loss of stool consistency with pasty
or liquid stools, and/or an increase in stool frequency to more than three stools in 24 hours with or
without fever or vomiting. Human survival depends on the secretion and reabsorption of fluid and
electrolytes in the intestinal tract. The objective of the study is to evaluate the risk factors of diarrhoea
in children under age of 5 years.
Methodology: It was an observational study. Study was completed in about six months. Non-probability
purposive sampling technique was used. In this study, 270 samples were taken from Diarrhoeal ward of
Gulab Devi Hospital Lahore, Pakistan.
Results: In this study, out of 270 patients, 58.52% were males and 41.48% were females. 90.37%
patients were vaccinated. 54.81% had weaning history. 91.85% patients had feeding history. 29.26%
had blood in stool. 96.67% patients were dehydrated. 95.56% patients had loose watery diarrhoea.
62.96% patients used boiled water. 58.52% patients consumed less than half litre of water, 30.00%
patients consumed 1 litre of water and 11.48% patients consumed > 1 litre of water. 49.18% patients had
proper hygiene. 38.15% mothers of patients were well educated. 40.37% patients had model household
condition. 57.41% patients lived in rural area and 42.59% patients lived in urban area.
Conclusion: The variation in the level of diarrhoeal morbidity was well explained by maternal
education, income, personal hygiene, refuse disposal system and the effect of health extension
programme.
Keyword :
Diarrhoea, Hygiene, Household condition, Malabsorption, Dehydration