TY - JOUR
T1 - Methodological issues in diarrhoeal diseases epidemiology
T2 - Definition of diarrhoeal episodes
AU - Baqui, Abdullah H.
AU - Black, Robert E.
AU - Yunus, Md
AU - Hoque, A. R.Azimul
AU - Chowdhury, H. R.
AU - Sack, R. Bradley
PY - 1991/12
Y1 - 1991/12
N2 - Baqui A H (Community Health Division, International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) (ICDDR, B) GPO Box 128, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh), Black R E, Yunus Md, Hoque A R A, Chowhury H R and Sack R B. Methodological issues in diarrhoeal diseases epidemiology: definition of diarrhoeal episodes. International Journal of Epidemiology 1991; 20: 1057-1063.A review of the diarrhoeal disease literature reveals considerable variability in the definition of diarrhoeal episodes. The use of various definitions of diarrhoea and episodes leads to misclassification, affects the estimates of the disease burden in communities and reduces comparability of the findings from different studies. This study is an attempt to validate the definition of diarrhoeal episodes using prospectivery collected community-based surveillance data. In comparative validation analyses, three or more loose stools or any number of loose stools containing blood in a 24-hour period seemed to be the best definition of diarrhoea. Three intervening diarrhoea-free days seemed to be the optimum to define a new episode. The implications of using differing definitions and the importance of using a validated definition are discussed.
AB - Baqui A H (Community Health Division, International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) (ICDDR, B) GPO Box 128, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh), Black R E, Yunus Md, Hoque A R A, Chowhury H R and Sack R B. Methodological issues in diarrhoeal diseases epidemiology: definition of diarrhoeal episodes. International Journal of Epidemiology 1991; 20: 1057-1063.A review of the diarrhoeal disease literature reveals considerable variability in the definition of diarrhoeal episodes. The use of various definitions of diarrhoea and episodes leads to misclassification, affects the estimates of the disease burden in communities and reduces comparability of the findings from different studies. This study is an attempt to validate the definition of diarrhoeal episodes using prospectivery collected community-based surveillance data. In comparative validation analyses, three or more loose stools or any number of loose stools containing blood in a 24-hour period seemed to be the best definition of diarrhoea. Three intervening diarrhoea-free days seemed to be the optimum to define a new episode. The implications of using differing definitions and the importance of using a validated definition are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0026343573&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0026343573&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/ije/20.4.1057
DO - 10.1093/ije/20.4.1057
M3 - Article
C2 - 1800404
AN - SCOPUS:0026343573
VL - 20
SP - 1057
EP - 1063
JO - International Journal of Epidemiology
JF - International Journal of Epidemiology
SN - 0300-5771
IS - 4
ER -