Diarrhea in neonatal intensive care unit

Table 1 Etiology of diarrhea in the study population

	Acute	Chronic	Overall
Number of patients	36	3	39
Unknown etiology	10	-	10
Cow’s milk allergy	8	-	8
Infections	7	-	7
Rotavirus	4	-
Salmonella paratyphi	1	-
Shigella flexneri	1	-
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli	1	-
Antibiotic-associated diarrhea	5	-	5
Neonatal withdrawal syndrome	2	-	2
Congenital diarrheal disorders	-	2	2
Glucose-galactose malabsorption	-	1	1
Congenital chloride diarrhea	-	1	1
Parenteral diarrhea
Urinary tract infection	1	-	1
Hirschsprung’s disease	1	-	1
Cystic fibrosis	-	1	1
Immunodeficiency
Adenosine deaminase deficiency	1	-	1
Metabolic disorders
Urea cycle defect	1	-	1

Table 2 Main demographic and anamnestic data of the study population n (%)

	Acute	Chronic
Number of patients	36	3
Demographic data
Male	15 (41.7)	1 (33.3)
Birth weight (g)	2504 ± 778	2560 ± 664
Gestational age (wk)	36.4 ± 3.8	37.7 ± 1.5
Age at diarrhea onset (d)	8.3 ± 6.6	5.7 ± 4.4
Age at hospitalizationa (d)	6.2 ± 8.5	19.7 ± 10.1
Anamnestic data
Intrauterine growth restriction	6 (16.7)	1 (33.3)
Polyhydramniosa	1 (2.8)	2 (66.7)
Premature birth	12 (33.3)	1 (33.3)
Familial for chronic diarrheaa	1 (2.8)	2 (66.7)
Newborns at high risk of developing allergy	12 (33.3)	-
Exclusively fed breast milk	3 (8.33)	-

^aP < 0.05. Data are expressed as mean ± SD when not specified.

Table 3 Main associated symptoms in the study population n (%)

	Acute	Chronic
Number of patients	36	3
Gastrointestinal
Vomiting	18 (50.0)	1 (33.3)
Mucus in the stools	13 (36.1)	1 (33.3)
Blood in the stools	9 (25.0)	-
Abdominal distension	24 (66.7)	2 (66.7)
Systemic
Fever	4 (11.1)	-
Hypovolemiaa	1 (2.8)	1 (33.3)
Eczema	7 (19.4)	-
Seizuresa	3 (8.3)	1 (33.3)

^aP < 0.05.

Table 4 Severity of dehydration, modalities of rehydration and clinical outcomes n (%)

	Acute	Chronic
Number of patients	36	3
Degree of dehydration
Severe dehydrationa	5 (13.9)	2 (66.7)
Rehydration modalities
Exclusively oral rehydration	18 (50.0)	1 (33.3)
Exclusively parenteral rehydration	2 (5.6)	1 (33.3)
Oral plus parenteral rehydration	16 (44.4)	1 (33.3)
Clinical outcomes
Duration of diarrheaa (d)	5.7 ± 2.5	44.3 ± 6.7
Electrolyte abnormalities	8 (22.2)	2 (66.7)
Deaths	2 (5.5)	1 (33.3)

^aP < 0.05. Data are expressed as mean ± SD when not specified.