Author Of 1 Presentation
CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF CHILDREN WITH HYDROCEPHALUS
Abstract
Background
Hydrocephalus is a multifactorial disease that occurs predominantly in childhood, causing functional and neuropsychological abnormalities, determining impact for children, family members and health professionals.
Objectives
To analyze the clinical and epidemiological profile of children with hydrocephalus in a children’s neurosurgery outpatient clinic of a university hospital.
Methods
Cross-sectional study using nonprobability sampling methods. Conducted in 2018 in the Children’s Neurosurgery Outpatient Clinic of a university hospital, Brazil. We included children with hydrocephalus between 01 month and 15 years old.
Results
We enrolled 32 children, 16 girls and 16 boys; with mean age of 4.4 ± 3.9 years. First shunt was done at 1.27 ± 3.06 years. The causes of hydrocephalus were: spina bifida (35.5%), neonatal brain hemorrhage (22.6%), neoplasms (12.9%), and others (28.8%). Considering all shunts and shunt reviews, there was an average of 1.58 ± 3.06 surgical proceedings for each patient. Twenty (62%) patients presented complications, including infection in 8 (25%), and shunt malfunction in 12 (37%). We found no association between the causes of hydrocephalus and the number of surgeries (p = 0.072), and between the causes of hydrocephalus and shunt dysfunction/infections (p = 0.394).
Conclusion
This study contributes to characterize the evolution and treatment of hydrocephalus in our community, producing basis to make comparisons with the literature and other services.