The Investigation of Acute Viral Hepatitis A and Its Complications in Childhood

Objective: Hepatitis A virus infections are a widespread disease with important morbidity and mortality in adults. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical and laboratory findings, treatment and prognosis of the acute viral hepatitis A cases in our hospital.Material and Method: IIn this study, 241 children diagnosed with acute viral hepatitis A were evaluated according to demographic and clinical characteristics between April 2007 and August 2008. Results: Of the patients, 134 (55.6%) were male and 107 (44.4%) were female, and the mean age of the patients was 7±5 years (range, 2-16). The incidence of hepatitis A was higher in autumn and winter. In 169 (70.1%) of the cases no route of transmission could be determined. The most common symptoms were jaundice (82.1%), weakness (80%), nausea (74.2%), anorexia (70.9%) and dark urine (68%). The most common signs were jaundice (94.2%), hepatomegaly (58.1%) and splenomegaly (21.6%). The total rate of hematological abnormalities was 43.1% and fulminant hepatitis was seen in 1.2% of the patients. The mortality rate was determined as 0.8%.Conclusions: Hepatitis A remains an important public health problem in the country. The disease causes more severe clinical symptoms and requires rest during the epidemic in adults. Therefore, hepatitis A vaccination may be useful in early childhood in hyperendemic regions.