Rotavirus infection in paediatric community-acquired acute gastroenteritis: a retrospective cross-sectional study in a private hospital in Malaysia

Objectives: 1) To establish the incidence of rotavirus infection in paediatric patients admitted to a private hospital in Malaysia with a diagnosis of community-acquired acute gastroenteritis. 2) To determine whether patients with rotaviral acute gastroenteritis have greater disease severity. Design Retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting An urban private hospital in Malaysia. Participants All paediatric patients with a discharge diagnosis of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) admitted to the hospital between September 2005 and March 2006. A total of 261 patients were included in the study. Results Rotavirus infection contributed to 54% of paediatric hospital admissions with discharge diagnoses of acute gastroenteritis. 74% of children with rotavirus infection were aged 5 years and below. This study demonstrated that patients with rotaviral gastroenteritis had greater disease severity, as measured by two indicators. Firstly, the average length of hospital stay was longer in patients who were rotavirus positive (5.14 days) compared to those who were rotavirus negative (4.81 days). These results were statistically significant (p<0.0005). Secondly, patients with rotaviral gastroenteritis were shown to have a greater need for intravenous (i.v.) rehydration (p