Frequency of measles complications among children presenting in tertiary care unit

Afsheen Batool Raza, Iqbal Bano, Farrah Naz, Tahseen Fatima

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Aim and objective: To determine the frequency of measles complications among children presenting in tertiary care unit. Patients and methods: It was a prospective observational study conducted in isolation ward of department of Pediatric Medicine, The Children's Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Lahore, from May 2012 to October 2012. A total 110 patients were included in the study between 6 months to 12 years. After an informed consent a predesigned Proforma was filled for each patient by the investigator, which included a detailed history and clinical examination. All patients were managed for their complications. All the data entered in SPSS-version 16 and results were analyzed in percentages. Results: Among 110 patients diagnosed with measles, complications were seen in 90 children (81.8%). There were 48 (43.6%) males and 62 (56.4%) female children. In this study, majority of the patients (64 (58.2%) were in the age group of 9 months to 5 years. Amongst all patients, 61 (55.5%) were malnourished and 18 (16.3%) were severely malnourished. The most frequent complication among patients was pneumonia 53 (48.2%) followed by encephalitis 16 (14.5%), acute watery diarrhea 14 (12.7%), otitis media 4 (3.6%) and febrile fits 3 (2.7%). In 20 patients (18.2%), no complication was observed. Conclusion: Amongst children who presented with measles, pneumonia was the commonest complication observed and was seen in under nourished children. So, by improving the nutritional status of the children and extensive vaccine coverage, this disease can be easily eradicated or reduced and thereby decreasing the morbidity and mortality in children due to complications of disease.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12-16
Number of pages5
JournalPakistan Paediatric Journal
Volume40
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Malnutrition
  • Measles
  • Vaccination

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