Acute childhood diarrhoea in northern Ghana: epidemiological, clinical and microbiological characteristics

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 1 Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the children with acute diarrhoea (n = 243)

*Epidemiological and clinical characteristics*
Age	mean (range) [years]	0.8 (0 to 11)
Female/male	[%]	50.6/49.4
Nutritional status
Weight-for-age z-score < -2	[%]	21.8
Weight-for height z-score < -2	[%]	19.4
Number of household members
Adults and children	mean (range)	5–7 (2–4 to > 22)
Children under 12 years	mean (range)	1–4 (1–4 to > 16)
Most frequently used water source
Public tap	[%]	42.7
Pond, river or stream	[%]	34.0
Protected dug well or protected spring	[%]	10.4
Most frequently used toilet facility
Pipe ventilated covered latrine	[%]	46.5
Bush or field	[%]	32.4
Uncovered latrine	[%]	12.4
Symptoms reported by guardian
Duration of diarrhoea	mean (range) [hours]	72 (6 to 168)
Stool frequency in the last 24 h	mean (range)	5.5 (3 to 15)
Fever	[%]	83.1
Abdominal pain	[%]	70.4
Vomiting	[%]	66.7
Weakness	[%]	56.0
Cough	[%]	45.7
Restlessness	[%]	25.1
Increased Thirst	[%]	22.6
Other symptoms	[%]	3.7
Drug intake in the last 48 h
Paracetamol	[%]	28.4
Chloroquine	[%]	7.8
Other drugs	[%]	2.9
Symptoms and signs at examination
Fever	[%]	54.3
Weakness	[%]	28.0
Sunken eyes	[%]	16.0
Restlessness	[%]	7.4
Crepitation (auscultation of lung)	[%]	6.6
Other symptoms and signs	[%]	10.8
Concomitant diseases
Malaria	[%]	14.8
Lower respiratory tract infection	[%]	7.0
Skin infection	[%]	5.8
Other concomitant diseases	[%]	5.3
Aspect of stool
Watery	[%]	75.3
Loose	[%]	20.2
Semi-formed	[%]	2.5
Formed	[%]	2.1
Mucus	[%]	58.4
Blood tests
Malaria parasitaemia	[%]	36.2
White blood cell count	mean ± SD [× 10³/μL]	12.0 ± 5.0
Haemoglobin concentration	mean ± SD [g/dL]	9.2 ± 1.8

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