Hypoxaemia and septic shock were independent risk factors for mechanical ventilation in Bangladeshi children hospitalised for diarrhoea

Aim: In Bangladesh, approximately 6% of children under five years of age die due to diarrhoea. We evaluated the admission and hospitalisation risk factors for mechanical ventilation and outcomes in children with diarrhoea. Methods: This retrospective case-control chart analysis was conducted in the intensive care unit of Dhaka Hospital of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. We enrolled 219 children with diarrhoea aged 0-59 months between August 2009 and July 2013. The 73 cases were children who were initially identified as requiring mechanical ventilation during the study period, and the 146 controls were randomly selected from those who did not require mechanical ventilation. We compared the groups to determine the risk factors for mechanical ventilation. Results: Mortality was significantly higher among the cases than the controls (p < 0.001). In the logistic regression analysis carried out for two separate time points, the independent risk factors for mechanical ventilation on admission were hypoxaemia (p < 0.001) and septic shock (p = 0.004) and during hospitalisation, they were intake of intravenous fluid (p = 0.015), hypokalaemia (p = 0.018), hyperkalaemia (p = 0.005) and septic shock (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Children under five with diarrhoea who required mechanical ventilation frequently had hypoxaemia and septic shock and were more likely to die than unventilated controls.