OBJECTIVES: To analyze the relationship of mother's knowledge about signs of dehydration, causes and management of acute diarrhea with admission of children under two years of age with the disease. METHODS: A nested cross-sectional and case-control study was carried out with children who were admitted at the "Instituto Materno Infantil de Pernambuco" with acute diarrhea: and control children admitted with other diseases. Variables were: patient admission having or not acute diarrhea (dependent); social-economic condition, nutritional state; duration of breastfeeding; mother's knowledge about acute diarrhea and its management (independent). The Epi-info software, 6.0 was used for analysis. RESULTS: There was statistical association between patient admission with acute diarrhea and poor social-economic conditions (p= 0.01); malnutrition (p=0.01); short time of breastfeeding (p=0.01), lack of mother's knowledge about how to avoid dehydration (p=0.05) and effectiveness of oral rehydration solutions (p=0.02). There was no statistical association with knowledge about causes, signs of dehydration or management of acute diarrhea. CONCLUSIONS: The study disclosed association between admission of children under two years of age with acute diarrhea and poor social-economic conditions; short time of breastfeeding, malnutrition, mother's lack of knowledge on how to avoid dehydration and effectiveness of oral rehydration solutions. Data suggests that lack of mother's knowledge reflects poor social-economic conditions.
Infantile diarrhea; Patient admission; Mother's knowledge; Health education
