Abstract
Objective:To assess the episodes of pneumonia and diarrhea in vaccinated and unvaccinated children under 60 months of age.Methods:This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Darul Sehat Hospital and SESSI, Karachi in the Department of Pediatrics from 1st November 2018 to 3rd February 2019. An interview based questionnaire was administered and selection of participants was done by convenience sampling. Total of 196 participants were selected for interview.Results:Total 196 participants were interviewed which included mothers of children between the age group of 1- 60 months. The questions were entered on the questionnaire after taking consent from the mothers. Among them, males were 98 (52.7%) and females were 88(47.3%). One hundred seventy two (88.7%) children were vaccinated for pneumococcal and rotavirus whereas unvaccinated children were 22(11.3%). There was an incidence of 66(63.5%) for loose watery diarrhea. In vaccinated children, grading of diarrhea was found to be severe cases as 30 (34.9%), moderate cases as 27 (31.4%) and mild cases as 29(33.7%). For unvaccinated children, severe cases were 12 (66.7%) and for mild and moderate cases were (11.1%) and 04(22.2%) respectively with p value of 0.035. As compared to their unvaccinated counterparts, the frequency of severe pneumonia was far less than cough and cold in vaccinated children (p<0.001).Conclusion:There is significant reduction in cases of severe pneumonia in children receiving pneumococcal vaccine as compared to children receiving Rota vaccine there is moderate reduction in cases of severe diarrhea. The overall coverage of Pneumococcal and Rota vaccines was higher in our sample population. Efforts should be made to increase the awareness of Rotavirus vaccination in order to have better coverage in future.
Highlights
In children less than 60 months of age, pneumonia and diarrhea are one of major reasons of morbidity and mortality and main reason for high economic cost.[1]
It has been estimated that 29% of all diarrheal deaths in children
Rotavirus accounts for 29% of overall deaths due to diarrhea in children under-60 months of age with 23% of deaths due to rota virus occurring in developing countries like Indo Pak subcontinent.[6]
Summary
In children less than 60 months of age, pneumonia and diarrhea are one of major reasons of morbidity and mortality and main reason for high economic cost.[1]. Rotavirus infection was responsible for more than 258 million episodes of diarrhea among children younger than 60 months.[5] Rotavirus accounts for 29% of overall deaths due to diarrhea in children under-60 months of age with 23% of deaths due to rota virus occurring in developing countries like Indo Pak subcontinent.[6] Annually Rotavirus is responsible for >500,000 deaths worldwide among infants and very young children, with 90% of these deaths occurring in African and Asian countries alone. Limited number of studies from a developing countries to report the frequency of both diarrhea and pneumonia in vaccinated and unvaccinated children in a well-defined catchment area. In this study we assessed vaccinated and unvaccinated children for the frequency of pneumonia and diarrhea in children under the age of 60 months at tertiary care hospital, Karachi
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