Regular Review: Dietary management of gastroenteritis in Britain

Abstract

Gastroenteritis is becoming less of a problem in Britain, but still 4*6 of every 1000 children under 5 were admitted to hospital for gastroenteritis in 1983,l a rate only slightly lower than the 5*8 admitted in 1978.2 Mortality has fallen sub? stantially. In 1978 142 infants and 22 toddlers (1-4 year olds) died from gastroenteritis in England and Wales,3 while in 1983 deaths numbered 38 and 10 respectively.4 In the 1970s the mortality from gastroenteritis in Britain was higher than that in many other countries in Europe.5 The infant mortality from gastroenteritis in Britain (6 for every 100 000 in 1983) is now much lower than that in some countries?for example, Greece (18) and Portugal (113); on a par with that in countries such as Belgium (5) and France (6); but still above that seen in West Germany (3) and the Netherlands (Nil).6