Persistent diarrhoea: socio-demographic and clinical profile of 264 children seen at a referral hospital in Addis Ababa.

Acute diarrhoea is a major public health problem in Ethiopian children under five years of age. Reports for other developing countries indicate that persistent diarrhoea is emerging as an important cause of mortality and morbidity in this age group. Little is, however, known about the extent of the condition in our setting. The socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of children with persistent diarrhoea seen at a teaching hospital in Addis Ababa over an 18-month period is presented. Of 5,762 children with all forms of diarrhoea seen during the study period 264 (5%) had persistent diarrhoea. Most of the children (83%) were below 18 months of age and the peak occurrence was between the ages of seven and 12 months. The majority (86%) of the patients had associated malnutrition and 83% of the infants under four months of age were either fully or partially weaned. Watery diarrhoea with no dehydration was the main clinical feature. Nearly 7% of the patients had dysentery. Average family income was low and parental literacy level seem to have had no effect. It is suggested that breastfeeding and appropriate weaning practices be strongly promoted. Further work is proposed in order to determine the magnitude of the problem and identify the risk factors associated with the disease, including the unfavourable child and family unit characteristics and care seeking behaviours.