Introduction: Given the occurrence of the COVID-19 epidemic and its possible impacts on the incidence of other infectious diseases, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of rotavirus infections among children ≤ 5 years old who were referred to Hazrat-e Ali Asghar Hospital in Tehran, Iran due to diarrhea.
Method: The current cross-sectional study was performed on all children ≤ 5 years old who were hospitalized due to diarrhea. An independent t-test, as well as Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests, were used to analyze continuous and categorical data, respectively.
Results: It was found that diarrhea was caused by rotaviruses in 11 out of 88 hospitalized children (12.5%, 95% confidence interval: 6-21%). In terms of gender, three (27.3%) and eight (72.7%) positive rotavirus cases were found in female and male children, respectively (P=0.31). Regarding the distribution of rotavirus-positive cases based on age, five (45.5%) and six cases (54.5%) had occurred in children under and above one year old, respectively (P= 0.51(.
Conclusion: Based on the results, the prevalence of diarrhea caused by rotavirus among children during the COVID-19 epidemic has decreased, compared to before, but due to the small sample size and the single-center nature, it is recommended to conduct larger studies with more samples.