Morbidity among infants in south India: A longitudinal study.

To study the incidence and types of morbidity in the first year of life in a birth cohort, a longitudinal study. This study was undertaken in northern part of Karnataka state in India. Birth cohort consisted of all the children born during first six months of the study period. They were assessed at the time of enrollment and monthly follow up was done till they attained one yr of age. Out of the 194 newborns, 46.4% were boys and 53.6% were girls. 24.8% of newborns were of low birth weight and 5.1% were preterm. Four (2.1%) had congenital anomalies and 2.5% developed birth asphyxia. Diarrhea (10.8%) and skin diseases (8.2%) were the commonest morbidities in the neonatal period. The incidence of morbidity was 3.28 per infant per yr. It was more among boys and in the second half of infancy. Commonest morbidities during infancy were respiratory tract infection (62.4%), diarrhea 42.8% and skin diseases (21.6%). Incidence of disease in infancy highlights the need to improve and plan health programmes.

Outcome of Intensive Care Unit Patients Using Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) Score.

We conducted this study to evaluate the outcome of 203 patients admitted to PICU, using PRISM score. Overall mortality was 16.7%. The mean PRISM score was 6.5±3.6 and 15.5±7 for survivors and non survivors, respectively (OR: 1.36; 95% CI=1.24–1.5; P<0.001). PRISM score also correlated well with length of hospital stay and the number of organ failures (P<0.001). A cut off score of 15 was associated with 89.2% accuracy. PRISM score is highly sensitive in predicting the outcome of pediatric patients in an ICU setting.