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Acute gastrointestinal diseases in children
Last reviewed: 12.07.2025
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Acute gastrointestinal diseases in children are the second most common pathology in young children after acute respiratory viral infections. Acute gastrointestinal diseases at this age are never limited to morphological and functional changes in the stomach and intestines alone, but are almost always combined with more or less pronounced disorders of the child's general condition, the functions of other organs, and disruption of the acid-base balance, metabolism, especially water-salt metabolism. The condition that develops in this case, the so-called "intestinal toxicosis", is a symptom complex that requires urgent medical intervention to save the lives of the sick. According to WHO, 10 children die every minute worldwide from acute gastrointestinal diseases and their complications, and the annual loss among children under 5 years of age reaches 5 million.
[ Causes of acute gastrointestinal diseases in children
Parenteral dyspepsia is associated with acute diseases outside the gastrointestinal tract (pathology of the respiratory, cardiovascular, urinary and other systems), when the gastrointestinal tract is affected by intoxication, hypoxia, circulatory disorders, changes in the central nervous system and autonomic nervous system, impaired motility, and intestinal dysfunction appears.
Dyskinesia (spasm, atony) of various parts of the gastrointestinal tract is usually a consequence of a violation of the regulation of the tone of muscle structures in pathology of the nervous system in children, especially in perinatal encephalopathy.
Symptoms of acute gastrointestinal diseases in children
Symptoms of acute gastrointestinal diseases consist of the following main syndromes: toxicosis, exicosis, dyspeptic syndrome.
Toxicosis is a non-specific syndrome that consists of an increase in body temperature, the appearance of pallor with a grayish color, and, in the case of severe acidosis, marbling of the skin. The child's sleep is disturbed, appetite decreases, behavior changes up to a soporous and comatose state.
Exicosis (dehydration) is most specific for gastrointestinal diseases and is prognostically significant, manifested by a change in the child's attitude to drinking, dry mucous membranes, decreased body weight and tissue turgor, sunken fontanelle, decreased diuresis, and symptoms of hemodynamic disturbances due to hypovolemia.
Where does it hurt?
What's bothering you?
Diagnosis of acute gastrointestinal diseases in children
Diagnosis of acute gastrointestinal diseases is based on a comprehensive clinical and laboratory approach. A carefully collected anamnesis and a fully conducted objective examination make the diagnosis of acute gastrointestinal disease reliable, allow assessing the severity of the patient and determining the management tactics.
What do need to examine?
Treatment of acute gastrointestinal diseases in children
Hospitalization is required for children with severe and complicated forms of the disease, children in their first year of life, children with an unfavorable premorbid background, and also when outpatient treatment is ineffective.
Regime. It is necessary to provide the child with thermal comfort, hygienic maintenance, access to fresh air. Isolation and compliance with the sanitary and epidemiological regime are important for intestinal infections.
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