Objective. To determine the validity and reliability of various clinical findings in the diagnosis
of dehydration in children. Design. Prospective cohort study. Setting. An urban pediatric
hospital emergency department. Participants. One hundred eighty-six children ranging in
age from 1 month to 5 years old with diarrhea, vomiting, or poor oral fluid intake, either
admitted or followed as outpatients. Exclusion criteria included malnutrition, recent prior
therapy at another facility, symptoms for longer than 5 days' duration, and hyponatremia or …