Annals of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Karachi Medical & Dental College (Mar 2018)

Frequency of Immunisation Status, Complications and Outcome in Children Admitted with Measles in Public and Private Sector Hospitals of Karachi

  • Musarrat Ameer,
  • Sina Aziz,
  • Shaista Ehsan,
  • Ume Kulsoom

DOI
https://doi.org/10.58397/ashkmdc.v23i1.47
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1

Abstract

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Objective: To assess the immunisation status, frequency of complications and the outcome in chil- dren admitted with measles in public and private sector hospitals of Karachi. Methods: In this cross-sectional study a total of 382 patients admitted with measles, of either sex from 3 months to 13 years, who presented from March 2016 to March 2017 were included. A total of 265 (69.3%) children were from Ziauddin University Hospital (ZU) and 117 (30.6%) from Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (AS). Non-probability convenient sampling technique was used. Those with con- genital anomalies and chronic medical illnesses were excluded from the study. Detailed history and physical examination was done, and findings entered in a Proforma. Immunisation status of the pa- tients was recorded. All the patients were observed for complications like encephalitis, pneumonia, diarrhea, otitis media, epiglottis, febrile fits and corneal ulcers. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 22. Categorical values were compared by chi-square test, p-value of <0.05 was con- sidered significant. Results: A total of 382 were patients admitted with measles, 265 (69.3%) from Ziauddin University hospital and 117 (30.6%) from Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Overall, 57.4% were completely vaccinated in ZU vs. 32.5% in AS. Despite being completely vaccinated, children in ZU; 152/265 (80%) and in AS; 38/117 (30.6%) had complications with a statistically significant (p<0.0001) difference between private and government sector hospitals. Predominantly, in both hospitals pneumonia was common followed by gastroenteritis. Overall mortality was 13/382 (3.4%) in both hospitals combined. Conclusion: A sizeable number of children admitted with measles in both private and government hospitals were unvaccinated. A significant number developed measles despite receiving two doses of vaccine. Frequency of complications was higher in private versus government hospitals. Mortality from measles was high (3.4%) especially in the unvaccinated.

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