Tropical Medicine & Surgery

Kuruvilla Thomas

Publications

• Research Article
  Admissions for Pediatric Diarrheal Illness in a Southern Indian Hospital Peak during the Rainiest Month of the Year
  Author(s): Vijay Anand, Peter Milano, Peter John R Allegra and Kuruvilla ThomasVijay Anand, Peter Milano, Peter John R Allegra and Kuruvilla Thomas
  
  Objectives: To test our hypothesis that admissions for diarrheal illness to a southern Indian hospital would be highest in the month with the most rainfall. Methods: Design: Retrospective cohort. Setting: Community hospital in Chennai, southern India. Population: All pediatric patients (less than 16 years of age) admitted to the hospital from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2004. Protocol: We selected diagnoses associated with acute diarrhea from all admitted pediatric patients, and used Chi square and the Student's t-tests to test for statistical significance, with alpha set at 0.05. Results: Of the 3,660 pediatric admissions, there were 740 admissions for diarrheal illness. Of those 740, the average age was 1.8 years and 47% were female. There was non-uniformity by month for diarrheal illness admissions using Chi square (p<0.001). The month with the greatest rainfall, November, h.. View More»
  DOI: 10.4172/2329-9088.1000150

  Abstract PDF