Death in severely malnourished hospitalized children presenting with diarrhea and vomiting.

INTRODUCTION: There is lack of data on outcomes of severely malnourished children who are hospitalized with concomitant diarrhea and vomiting. We sought to evaluate outcomes of such children. METHODOLOGY: In this retrospective chart review, we used electronic databases to evaluate children aged 0-59 months and admitted to the Dhaka Hospital of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, with diarrhea and severe malnutrition between April 2011 and August 2012. Outcomes of children with and without vomiting were compared. The primary outcome was death. A probability of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Out of 306 enrolled children, 51 (17%) had vomiting and 255 (83%) did not have vomiting. A total of 31 (10%) children died, 12 (24%) of them had vomiting and 19 (8%) did not have vomiting. Death was significantly higher in severely malnourished diarrheal children with vomiting (12/51 (24%)) compared to those without vomiting (19/255 (8%)) (Relative risk [RR] 2.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.61-4.64; p < 0.001). We used Log linear bi-nominal regression after adjusting for potential confounders such as metabolic acidosis and hypoglycemia, and found that vomiting was significantly associated with deaths in severely malnourished diarrheal children (RR 1∙89, 95% CI 1.01-1.33; p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis showed that children with diarrhea and severe malnutrition who had vomiting during hospitalization were at a higher risk of death compared to those without vomiting. The results underscore the importance of prompt identification and management of vomiting to reduce deaths in such children.

Perceptions about Telemedicine among Populations with Chronic Diseases amid COVID-19: Data from a Cross-Sectional Survey.

Chronic diseases, including non-communicable diseases (NCDs), have arisen as a severe threat to health and socio-economic growth. Telemedicine can provide both the highest level of patient satisfaction and the lowest risk of infection during a pandemic. The factors associated with its usage and patient adherence are not visible in Bangladesh's resource-constrained settings. Therefore, this study aimed to identify perceptions about telemedicine among populations with chronic diseases amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A closed-ended self-reported questionnaire was created, and the questionnaire was written, reviewed, and finalized by a public health investigator, a psychiatrist, and an epidemiologist. The data for this study were collected from individuals using simple random sampling and snowball sampling techniques. Ethics approval was granted, and written/verbal consent was taken before interviews. Most of the participants showed a positive attitude towards telemedicine. People aged 35-54 years old and a higher level of education were less frequently associated with willingness to receive telemedicine services for current chronic disease (WRTCCD) than their counterparts. People living in urban areas and lower-income participants were more strongly associated with WRTCCD. Additionally, people who did not lose their earnings due to the pandemic were less strongly associated with WRTCCD. However, the main strength of this research is that it is a broad exploration of patient interest in several general forms of telehealth. In Bangladesh, there are many opportunities for telemedicine to be integrated into the existing healthcare system, if appropriate training and education are provided for healthcare professionals.

Risk Factors and Outcomes of Hospital Acquired Pneumonia in Young Bangladeshi Children.

Hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) is common and often associated with high mortality in children aged five or less. We sought to evaluate the risk factors and outcome of HAP in such children. We compared demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics in children <5 years using a case control design during the period of August 2013 and December 2017, where children with HAP were constituted as cases (n = 281) and twice as many randomly selected children without HAP were constituted as controls (n = 562). HAP was defined as a child developing a new episode of pneumonia both clinically and radiologically after at least 48 h of hospitalization. A total of 4101 children were treated during the study period. The mortality was significantly higher among the cases than the controls (8% vs. 4%, p = 0.014). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for potential confounders, it was found that persistent diarrhea (95% CI = 1.32-5.79; p = 0.007), severe acute malnutrition (95% CI = 1.46-3.27; p < 0.001), bacteremia (95% CI = 1.16-3.49; p = 0.013), and prolonged hospitalization of >5 days (95% CI = 3.01-8.02; p < 0.001) were identified as independent risk factors for HAP. Early identification of these risk factors and their prompt management may help to reduce HAP-related fatal consequences, especially in resource limited settings.