Clinical epidemiology of paediatric disease at Nchelenge, north-east Zambia.
- 1 June 1998
- journal article
- other
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Paediatrics and International Child Health
- Vol. 18 (2), 129-138
- https://doi.org/10.1080/02724936.1998.11747939
Abstract
In a combined retrospective and prospective 4-year study of 6412 children consecutively admitted to St Paul's Hospital, Nchelenge, north-east Zambia, the clinical epidemiology of paediatric disease was described. One diagnosis per admission was noted. Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) was diagnosed clinically and by means of a modified Wellcome scheme using weight-for-height and Z scores. Correlation coefficients were calculated between monthly admission rates and relative humidity, rainfall and temperature. The age distribution of admitted children showed several distinct groups. Type I (malaria, acute gastro-enteritis, pneumonia and meningitis) had its peak in the 1st 7 months of age, type II (burn wounds and measles) had its main prevalence between the ages of 2 and 4 years, and type III (trauma, typhoid fever, snake bite and tropical ulcer) occurred mainly between 4 and 14 years of age. Admission rates for PEM, PEM subtypes, pneumonia, trauma and snake bite correlated with wet season variables. Malaria and acute gastro-enteritis were extremely common throughout the year. A measles epidemic in the dry season was initially followed by an increase in marasmus, whereas oedematous malnutrition only assumed epidemic proportions associated with a post-measles rise in admission rates of pneumonia. Clinical epidemiological data at the district level is a powerful tool for understanding the pattern of serious paediatric disease in the community.Keywords
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