Epidemilological characteristies and risk factors of infants aged 0-3 years with rotavirus infection

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and risk factors of infants aged 0-3 years with rotavirus infection. Methods From January 2015 to July 2017, a total of 50 children with rotavirus diarrhea (0-3 years old) diagnosed by pediatric inpatients in Nongken Central Hospital were enrolled, while 50 cases of healthy children were collected as control group, the epidemiology of rotavirus infection of patients were described. The patient’s basic information, living habits and life behavior on the self-made questionnaire survey, through univariate and multivariate statistical methods which could be used as a risk factor for rotavirus infection were analyzed. Results Descriptive statistics was found that diarrhea caused by rotavirus occurred in infants aged 4-6 months and 11-12 months, mainly in summer and winter, and there was no significant differences in the number of children with diarrhea caused by rotavirus among different ages and genders (χ2 = 0.622, 0.519; P = 0.419, 0.617), also no significant differences among clinical symtoms of diarrhea caused by different molecular types of rotavirus (χ2 = 1.011, 0.219, 0.948, 0.628, 0.435; P = 0.315, 0.640, 0.330, 0.428, 0.509). Timely vaccination (OR = 0.52, 95%CI: 0.21-0.84), good hand washing habits (OR = 0.35, 95%CI: 0.19-6.48) and hand washing behavior before feeding (OR = 0.45, 95%CI: 0.21-0.93) were protective factors for children with rotavirus diarrhea, while finger sucking habits (OR = 3.37, 95%CI: 1.58-6.21), history of contact with diarrhea children (OR = 2.95, 95%CI: 1.87-4.05), exposure to food and cold unclean food (OR = 2.53, 95%CI: 1.09-8.75) were the risk factors. Conclusions Children with diarrhea (0-3 years old) caused by rotavirus infection could occur throughout the year, mainly in summer and winter. Inoculation on time, good hand hygiene, without finger sucking habits and contaction with diarrhea patients, and eating raw or cold food could bring down RV infection. Key words: Infants; Rotavirus; Epidemiology; Risk factor