Determining the Factors in Acute Gastroenteritis

Objective: The study aims to give information about the sociodemographic characteristics and the gastroenteritis agents detected in the patients hospitalized in the pediatric service with the diagnosis of acute gastroenteritis.

Methods: The patients hospitalized in the pediatric service diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis were investigated by age, gender, place of residence, season of arrival, duration of hospitalization, and gastroenteritis factors.

Results: Out of a total of 328 patients, 126 (38.4%) were girls and 202 (61.6%) were boys. The average age was 43.3 months; the average length of stay in the hospital was 4.75 days. A total of 118 (35.9%) of the patients were in the age group of 2-23 months, 139 (42.3%) of them were 24-71 months old, and 71 (21.6%) of them were over 6 years old (P=.001). The average number of days of hospitalization is 5 days (P=.001) in the preschool period; the seasons with the most hospitalization were summer and spring. The majority of patients lived in urban areas. In a total of 230 (70.1%) patients, the factors that could cause gastroenteritis were not detected; the agent was rotavirus in 56 (57.1%) of the 98 patients which was found to be causative.

Conclusion: Among children hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis, younger children have a longer hospital stay. The most common infectious agent of acute gastroenteritis is rotavirus. Including the rotavirus vaccine in the national vaccination program in our country may be beneficial in preventing the rotavirus. A stool test may guide the diagnosis.

Cite this article as: Sürücü Kara İ, Akyüz S, Turan A. Determining the factors in acute gastroenteritis. Arch Basic Clin Res., 2023;5(3):338-343.