Introduction: Acute gastroenteritis is a common disease in children. Rotavirus is the major etiologic agent.
Objectives: To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of acute gastroenteritis according to their etiology (rotavirus or other) in children younger than 5 years old in a private institution in the City of Buenos Aires.
Secondary objective: to analyze related costs.
Material and methods: Cross sectional, descriptive, observational study conducted during one year in children younger than 5 years old with gastroenteritis. The presence of rotavirus was diagnosed with the VIKIA® Rota-Adeno test. Demographic, clinical and immunization data were collected. A univariate data analysis was performed.
Results: A total of 275 patients were included; 18.5% of them were R+. Rotavirus was more common in children younger than 2 years old and in the period between March and June. The cases of rotavirus gastroenteritis were more severe, required more hospitalizations (OR 2.07; 95% CI 1.17-7.13), and resulted in higher costs. In the sample studied, the immunization outcome measure reduced the risk of rotavirus infection.
Conclusions: Acute gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus were different from other etiologies in that they had a seasonal peak and in relation to the median age of patients, the severity of the condition, the association with hospitalization and the increase in costs.