Background: Neurological disorders in paediatric age group constitute a major cause of hospital visits both elective and emergent. Due to fast maturity of nervous system within the first few years of life they are more prone to neurological disorders, which mostly can be preventive and rehabilitative in nature. Purpose of this study was to know the pattern and spectrum of neurological disorders among children presenting to a tertiary health care facility in Kashmir.Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of the data of all the children in the age group 1 month to 18 years admitted with neurological disorders over a period of 12 month. Diagnosis was made on the basis of history, physical examination and relevant laboratory and radiological investigations.Results: Out of 21732 patients admitted during this study period, 562 patients had neurological disorders, an occurrence rate of 25 per 1000 hospitalized patients, with a male female ratio of 1.4:1. The most common neurological disorder was seizures followed by cerebral palsy and CNS infection.Conclusions: Neurological disorders constitute one of the common reasons for childhood hospitalization, implying a comprehensive must be set up in place to deal with these neurological problems as is existing elsewhere in our country, and in developed world for appropriate delivery of health care.

Background and Objectives:Despite advance in treatment of status epilepticus (SE), a major neurological emergency, it is still associated with mortality and morbidity. The objective of our study was to estimate sociodemographic profile, semiology, and etiology in the children with SE admitted in pediatric intensive care.Materials and Methods:Children between 1 month and 18 years with continuous seizure activity of >5 min or two or more sequential seizures without full recovery of consciousness between seizures, admitted in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Department of Pediatrics, Government Medical College, Srinagar, were included in the study. A semi-structured tool was designed to record the sociodemographic details. Detailed history, clinical examination, and investigations (including neuroimaging as and when needed) were used to determine the type of seizure and etiology.Results:A total of 51 patients were included in our study. Most of the patients were <5 years with 47.10% in 1–5 years’ age group and 43.10% in >1-year age group. Males (60.80%) outnumbered females. Thirty-nine patients (76.47%) belonged to “known” or “symptomatic” group with 35 (68.60%) of them presenting with SE as their fresh seizure. Thirty-nine (76.47%) of our patients had generalized tonic–clonic seizure (GTCS) type of SE.Conclusion:Most of the children (90%) were below the age of 5 years with male predominance. Most of the patients had SE as their first seizure without prior history of seizures with GTCSs was the most frequent seizure type.

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Background: Malnutrition in children with congenital heart defects [CHDs] has been linked to increased morbidity and mortality as indicated by frequent hospitalisation, poor surgical outcomes, persistent impairment of somatic growth and increased death. All types of malnutrition, and severe forms in particular, contribute to mortality in childhood. There is strong evidence that poor growth [ malnutrition] is associated with delayed mental development and poor school performance.The mechanisms for growth deficiency in CHD are multifactorialand include associated chromosomal anomalies/ genetic syndromes, inadequate nutritional intake due to feeding difficulties, and poor absorption of nutrients from digestive tract in chronic congestive heart failure. Also increased calories are required to sustain the increased myocardial, respiratory and neuro-humoral functions in CHD-related heart failure. Chronic CHF and chronic hypoxemia in CHD impair cellular metabolism and cell growth. Other mechanisms of growth deficiency in CHD have been reported.The WHO recommends the WHO/National Center for Health Statistics [NCHS] growth standards for nutrition surveys.The present study aims to describe the prevalence, profile and predictors of malnutrition using recommended case definitions.The findings of present study could be applied to current and future paediatric cardiac care practice. Aims And Objectives: To investigate the prevalence, profile, predictors and epidemiological pattern of malnutrition in children with congenital heart defects. Materials And Methods: This was a Case-control, observational study which was conducted in post graduate department of paediatrics GB Pant Children Hospital on all patients above 6 months of age admitted in the hospital as cases of congenital heart defects and controls will include the patients with minor ailments admitted for short stay. Study was conducted between December 2020-November 2022 Stastical Analysis: Data was entered in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Categorical variables were summarized as frequency and percentage. Continuous variables were summarized as mean and SD. Results: The study was conducted on two hundred and fifty cases of CHD. The detected cardiac anomalies were classified as acyanotic heart diseases (n=163 65%) and cyanotic heart diseases (n=87 35%). The prevalence of CHD-related malnutrition was 90% as compared to 21.2% in the control patients with 63.3% of cases having severe malnutrition. Among cases, the relative proportions of wasting, stunting and underweight were 40.8%, 28.8% and 20.8%, respectively. Wasting was proportionately higher (58.3%) in acyanotic CHD, while stunting was predominant (67.8%) in cyanotic CHD (p=0.0001).

Background: In children and adolescents, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is mostly responsible for mild respiratory symptoms, in contrast with severe forms reported in adults. An association between the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and late manifestations of vasculitis has been increasingly suspected. Method: All children and adolescents (aged ≤18 years) who were diagnosed with Kawasaki disease (KD) and KD shock syndrome (KDSS) as per AHA and Kanegaye et al criteria. From each patient we obtained at least two nasopharyngeal swabs to test for SARS-CoV-2 using reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We also took blood samples to test for IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.  Results: Leucocytosis was found in majority with median leucocyte count of 10100 predominant neutrophila. Inflammatory markers D dimer, serum ferritin and fibrinogen level were raised. The 43% patients had coronary artery aneurysm. The 75% patient had some form of Left ventricular systolic dysfunction. All patients received IVIG while 13 patients received both IVIG and methyl predinisolone. Ionotropes were used in 68%. Two patients received tocluzumab. Conclusions: In this study we found increased incidence of Kawasaki like illness temporally associated with COVID-19. Older age of presentation with more atypical presentation.