Trends in Hospitalization of Children with High-Frequency Diseases; A Nine-Year Retrospective Study

Background The disease trends help in identifying the importance of the disease. The purpose of this study was to obtain trends of high morbid diseases in children admitted in the pediatric ward of a tertiary care hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan. Materials and Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional study, conducted in the Pediatric Ward of Rehman Medical Institute (RMI), Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2017. Secondary (historical) data was collected from the Pediatric Ward of Rehman Medical Institute. Data were analyzed using SPSS V.23 and tabulated in excel sheets with percentages and rates to determine the trends. The data was then presented graphically. Results: A total of 26,810 records were collected from the RMI database to determine the trends of high-frequency diseases in a pediatric ward. Therefore, Acute Gastro-Enteritis (AGE) [12.8%] had the highest number of cases, followed closely by Lower Respiratory Tract Infections (LRTI) [10.7%] and Neonatal Jaundice (NNJ) [10.0%]. Asthma [3.2%] and Hepatitis A [2.5%] were the least prevalent cases. 14% of the cases were excluded. Pneumonia, NNS, AGE, and sepsis showed an increasing trend while URTI and asthma showed a decreasing trend for nine years. Conclusion Trends of Pneumonia, Neonatal Sepsis, and Sepsis, in general, show a dramatic rise, AGE, LRTIs, and Enteric Fever show a very gradual increase, a general downward trend is observed in Asthma and Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTIs); while NNJ, Hepatitis A, and Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) show a static trend.