Table 3.
Clinical characteristics associated with death due to moderate-to-severe diarrhea in the univariate analysis, in children 0–59 months of age
| Variable | Vital child’s status at 60-day visit | Total | Hazar Ratio | p-value | ||
| Alive | Dead | |||||
| Demographic characteristics | ||||||
| Gender: Femalea | 307 / 752 (41%) | 30 / 69 (43%) | 337 / 821 (41%) | 1.127 (0.698, 1.804) | 0.6199* | |
| Clinical history before hospital admission | ||||||
| Oralite or orsa | 202 / 752 (27%) | 24 / 69 (35%) | 226 / 821 (28%) | 1.404 (0.846, 2.274) | 0.1840* | |
| Special milk or infant formulaa | 1 / 752 (0%) | 0 / 69 (0%) | 1 / 821 (0%) | 5.277 (0.042,.) | 0.3565* | |
| Home remedy/herbal medicationa | 138 / 752 (18%) | 19 / 69 (28%) | 157 / 821 (19%) | 1.617 (0.936, 2.684) | 0.0832* | |
| No special remedies givena | 399 / 752 (53%) | 32 / 69 (46%) | 431 / 821 (52%) | 0.800 (0.497, 1.281) | 0.3533* | |
| How long has this episode lastedb | 2.00 (2.00) [752] | 2.00 (2.00) [69] | 2.00 (2.00) [821] | 1.117 (0.922, 1.330)c | 0.2473* | |
| Describe stoola | Simple watery | 422 (56%) | 48 (70%) | 470 (57%) | reference | 0.0630* |
| Rice watery stool | 12 (2%) | 0 (0%) | 12 (1%) | 0.404 (0.003,.) | ||
| Sticky/Mucoid | 200 (27%) | 18 (26%) | 218 (27%) | 0.815 (0.465, 1.368) | ||
| Bloody | 118 (16%) | 3 (4%) | 121 (15%) | 0.281 (0.076, 0.747) | ||
| Total | 752 (100%) | 69 (100%) | 821 (100%) | |||
| Hospital admission | ||||||
| Child was admitted to hospitala | 471 / 752 (63%) | 60 / 69 (87%) | 531 / 821 (65%) | 3.533 (1.858, 7.520) | < 0.0001* | |
| Received antibioticsa | 413 / 752 (55%) | 56 / 69 (81%) | 469 / 821 (57%) | 3.179 (1.799, 6.035) | < 0.0001* | |
| Number of days admittedb | 4.00 (3.00) [471] | 6.50 (7.00) [58] | 4.00 (2.00) [529] | 1.103 (1.069, 1.132)c | < 0.0001* | |
| Signs/symptoms any time since beginning of episode | ||||||
| Vomiting 3 or more times per daya | 363 / 752 (48%) | 33 / 69 (48%) | 396 / 821 (48%) | 0.942 (0.585, 1.512) | 0.8037* | |
| Unable to drinka | 61 / 752 (8%) | 5 / 69 (7%) | 66 / 821 (8%) | 0.993 (0.367, 2.165) | 0.9875* | |
| Fevera | 249 / 751 (33%) | 31 / 69 (45%) | 280 / 820 (34%) | 1.620 (1.006, 2.591) | 0.0474* | |
| Belly paina | 188 / 752 (25%) | 19 / 69 (28%) | 207 / 821 (25%) | 1.162 (0.673, 1.926) | 0.5784* | |
| Loss of consciousnessa | 9 / 752 (1%) | 3 / 69 (4%) | 12 / 821 (1%) | 4.554 (1.258, 11.556) | 0.0248* | |
| Wrinkled skina | 195 / 751 (26%) | 33 / 69 (48%) | 228 / 820 (28%) | 2.436 (1.513, 3.912) | 0.0003* | |
| Irritable or restlessa | 105 / 752 (14%) | 8 / 69 (12%) | 113 / 821 (14%) | 0.812 (0.367, 1.577) | 0.5600* | |
| Lethargy or loss of consciousnessa | 344 / 750 (46%) | 44 / 69 (64%) | 388 / 819 (47%) | 1.989 (1.233, 3.279) | 0.0047* | |
| Convulsiona | 29 / 752 (4%) | 1 / 69 (1%) | 30 / 821 (4%) | 0.632 (0.071, 2.335) | 0.5514* | |
| Difficulty breathinga | 53 / 751 (7%) | 14 / 69 (20%) | 67 / 820 (8%) | 3.182 (1.705, 5.578) | 0.0006* | |
| Chest indrawinga | 113 / 747 (15%) | 18 / 68 (26%) | 131 / 815 (16%) | 1.948 (1.110, 3.276) | 0.0213* | |
| Fast breathinga | 171 / 750 (23%) | 19 / 69 (28%) | 190 / 819 (23%) | 1.218 (0.696, 2.055) | 0.4784* | |
| Rectal prolapsea | 1 / 751 (0%) | 2 / 69 (3%) | 3 / 820 (0%) | 12.096 (2.501, 35.288) | 0.0053* | |
| Dehydration and nutritional status | ||||||
| Very thirstya | 570 / 750 (76%) | 48 / 69 (70%) | 618 / 819 (75%) | 0.754 (0.459, 1.282) | 0.2890* | |
| Drinks poorlya | 72 / 751 (10%) | 11 / 68 (16%) | 83 / 819 (10%) | 1.776 (0.894, 3.226) | 0.0967* | |
| Sunken eyesa | 368 / 751 (49%) | 38 / 69 (55%) | 406 / 820 (50%) | 1.231 (0.769, 1.985) | 0.3861* | |
| Loss of skin turgora | 208 / 752 (28%) | 33 / 69 (48%) | 241 / 821 (29%) | 2.234 (1.388, 3.586) | 0.0011* | |
| Dry moutha | 298 / 751 (40%) | 37 / 69 (54%) | 335 / 820 (41%) | 1.680 (1.050, 2.703) | 0.0306* | |
| I ntravenous rehydrationa | 345 / 752 (46%) | 39 / 69 (57%) | 384 / 821 (47%) | 1.441 (0.895, 2.342) | 0.1325* | |
| Skin pincha | Normal | 529 (70%) | 36 (52%) | 565 (69%) | reference | 0.0020* |
| Slow return (<= 2 s.) | 172 (23%) | 21 (30%) | 193 (24%) | 1.690 (0.974, 2.864) | ||
| Very slow (> 2 s.) | 51 (7%) | 12 (17%) | 63 (8%) | 3.356 (1.696, 6.203) | ||
| Total | 752 (100%) | 69 (100%) | 821 (100%) | |||
| Dehydration (at least one of above)a | 698 / 752 (93%) | 66 / 69 (96%) | 764 / 821 (93%) | 1.393 (0.549, 5.042) | 0.5256* | |
| Length/height-for-age z-score (median height)d | −1.35 (1.38) [746] | −2.27 (1.59) [68] | −1.43 (1.42) [814] | 0.648 (0.554, 0.760)c | < 0.0001* | |
| Bipedal edemaa | 11 / 752 (1%) | 3 / 69 (4%) | 14 / 821 (2%) | 3.237 (0.891, 8.271) | 0.0701* | |
| Abnormal haira | 57 / 752 (8%) | 18 / 69 (26%) | 75 / 821 (9%) | 3.827 (2.193, 6.388) | < 0.0001* | |
| Skin has ‘flaky paint’ appearancea | 9 / 752 (1%) | 4 / 69 (6%) | 13 / 821 (2%) | 4.602 (1.509, 10.721) | 0.0108* | |
| Is the child currently breastfeda | No | 150 (24%) | 21 (35%) | 171 (25%) | reference | 0.0036* |
| Partial breastfeeding | 297 (47%) | 23 (38%) | 320 (46%) | 0.281 (0.134, 0.597) | ||
| Exclusive breastfeeding | 190 (30%) | 16 (27%) | 206 (30%) | 0.275 (0.117, 0.641) | ||
| Total | 637 (100%) | 60 (100%) | 697 (100%) | |||
| Hospital diagnoses/co-morbidities | ||||||
| Dysenterya | 120 / 752 (16%) | 3 / 69 (4%) | 123 / 821 (15%) | 0.302 (0.082, 0.786) | 0.0112* | |
| Pneumonia/lower resp. infectiona | 125 / 752 (17%) | 30 / 69 (43%) | 155 / 821 (19%) | 3.510 (2.162, 5.651) | < 0.0001* | |
| Meningitisa | 0 / 752 (0%) | 1 / 69 (1%) | 1 / 821 (0%) | 62.693 (6.820, 258.067) | 0.0023* | |
| Other invasive bacterial infectiona | 1 / 752 (0%) | 5 / 69 (7%) | 6 / 821 (1%) | 17.447 (6.431, 38.158) | < 0.0001* | |
| Malariaa | 129 / 752 (17%) | 10 / 69 (14%) | 139 / 821 (17%) | 0.878 (0.430, 1.619) | 0.6920* | |
| Malnutritiona | 63 / 752 (8%) | 26 / 69 (38%) | 89 / 821 (11%) | 5.658 (3.439, 9.140) | < 0.0001* | |
| HIVa | Tested negative | 144 (19%) | 7 (10%) | 151 (18%) | reference | 0.0019* |
| Tested positive | 30 (4%) | 10 (14%) | 40 (5%) | 6.041 (2.384, 16.090) | ||
| Untested pre-May2010 | 507 (67%) | 48 (70%) | 555 (68%) | 1.789 (0.882, 4.200) | ||
| Untested from May2010 onwards | 71 (9%) | 4 (6%) | 75 (9%) | 1.155 (0.327, 3.629) | ||
| Total | 752 (100%) | 69 (100%) | 821 (100%) | |||
*Cox Regression with Firth’s Penalized Likelihood adjusted for age and CI based on the Profile Penalized-Log Likelihood
an (Column percentage)
bMedian (IQR) [n]
cPer unit increase
dArithmetic Mean (SD) [n]