Clinical Profile, Risk-Factors, and Outcome of Rotaviral Diarrhea and Non-rotaviral Diarrhea Among Under-Five Children at Cuttack, Odisha, India.

Objective: To understand the prevalence of rotavirus diarrhea and its associated clinical and socio-demographic characteristics.

Methods: The prospective hospital-based study was conducted at SVP Post Graduate Institute of Pediatrics and SCB Medical College, Odisha, India among children under-five years of age from April 2016 to July 2019. From all eligible children admitted at hospital, a case-report form containing information on clinical and socio-demographic characteristics was collected and an attempt was made to collect stool sample. A simple logistic regression method was used to assess factors associated with rotavirus diarrhea.

Results: Of the 1963 children, median (IQR) age was 12 (8-19) mo with a female/male ratio was 1:2.05. The prevalence of rotavirus diarrhea was 36.4% (95% CI, 34.2%-38.6%). Children in the age group of 6-11 (OR 1.64, 95% CI, 1.24-2.18), 12-23 (OR 1.73, 95% CI, 1.31-2.29) mo had higher odds of getting rotavirus diarrhea, compared to those in that of 24-59 mo. The prevalence of wasting, stunting, underweight among children with rotavirus diarrhea was 25.2% (95% CI, 22%-28.4%), 2.1% (95% CI, 1.1%-3.1%), 9.0% (95% CI, 6.8%-11.2%), respectively.

Conclusion: The results of this study confirmed that diarrhea remains an important cause of hospitalization in children. Further studies are required in the community for Rotavirus and its genotyping.