LOW BODY-WEIGHT - A SIMPLE INDICATOR OF THE RISK OF DEHYDRATION AMONGCHILDREN WITH DIARRHEA

The early identification of children at high risk of dehydration as a consequence of diarrhoea would be of great value for health care worke rs in developing countries. By comparing children aged less than two y ears with diarrhoea and moderate to severe dehydration with matched co ntrols who had uncomplicated diarrhoea, a number of prognostic factors were assessed. Low body weight, regardless of age, was strongly assoc iated with the risk of dehydration; using 7.0 kg as a cut-off, it had a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 68%. Low body weight was sup erior to more complex anthropometric indices, including weight for age , weight for length or length for age, and also to early signs and sym ptoms during the episode. By reflecting the effects of both young age and those of malnutrition, low body weight may prove to be a simple in dicator for predicting dehydration among children with diarrhoea prese nting at a health service.