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https://hdl.handle.net/2440/5498
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Type: | Journal article |
Title: | Dehydration deaths in infants and young children |
Author: | Whitehead, F. Couper, R. Moore, L. Bourne, A. Byard, R. |
Citation: | American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 1996; 17(1):73-78 |
Publisher: | LIPPINCOTT-RAVEN PUBL |
Issue Date: | 1996 |
ISSN: | 0195-7910 1533-404X |
Abstract: | Dehydration in developed countries is an uncommon but important mechanism resulting in the death of infants and children. The clinicopathological features of a series of 37 fatal dehydration cases autopsied at the Adelaide Children's Hospital over a 33-year period (1961-1993) are presented. Causative factors for dehydration included gastroenteritis (21 cases), gastroenteritis with high environmental temperature (one case), high environmental temperatures (six cases), neglect/failure to thrive (four cases), mental retardation/chromosomal abnormality (three cases), congenital adrenal hyperplasia (one case), and unsuspected cystic fibrosis (one case). The mean age at death was 11.4 months (range 2 weeks to 6.25 years; median 6 months; 95% confidence interval 6 months to 1 year and 4 months; male-to-female ratio, 19:18). Sixteen of the 22 cases of fatal gastroenteritis (73%) occurred during the fall/winter months (March to August). There were a total of seven aboriginal or part aboriginal children in the group (19%). Children with mental retardation were at higher risk of dehydration, and previously unsuspected cases of child abuse/neglect also presented with lethal dehydration. Vitreous humor electrolyte levels and immunoassay for rotavirus were useful diagnostic adjuncts. |
Keywords: | Dehydration Childhood Gastroenteritis Unexpected death |
Rights: | Copyright: © Lippincott-Raven Publishers |
DOI: | 10.1097/00000433-199603000-00014 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00000433-199603000-00014 |
Appears in Collections: | Aurora harvest 5 Pathology publications |
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