Clinical profile of neurological disorders in children: a hospital-based experience of a tertiary care centre in Kashmir

Abstract

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.

Clinical Profile of Pediatric Neurology Disorders: A Study From a Semi-Urban Medical College in Northwestern India

“…The high percentage of seizure disorders may be due to increased awareness that these are medical conditions that can be treated. Cerebral palsy in 26 (19.5%) patients was the second most common neurological disorder in our study which is similar to other studies [ 8 , 11 , 14 - 15 ]. Many of the affected children require specialized care and rehabilitative services and multidisciplinary teamwork.…”

“…Child neurology and developmental pediatrics are not well established at the primary level in developing countries; primary care centers lack basic diagnostic and treatment facilities for the management of childhood neurological disorders. Male predominance was found to be consistent with earlier studies from India that reported higher prevalence among males as compared to females [ 8 - 10 ]; a similar pattern of male predominance was also found in other parts of the world [ 11 - 12 ].…”

“…This is similar to the study by Singhi who reported that epilepsy constitutes 85% of pediatric neurology OPD patients [ 13 ]. Other studies by Burton et al and Banoo et al reported seizure disorder as a common neurological problem in 57% and 42.7%, respectively [ 7 - 8 ].…”