Clinicoepidemiological Profile of Recurrent Pneumonia in Children

Abstract

Background: Pneumonia is considered the leading cause of morbimortality in children all over the world. About 9% of children with  pneumonia will have recurrent pneumonia (RP). RP has a major financial burden on the healthcare system owing to frequent  hospitalization. Many studies focused on some underlying diseases that cause RP, RP have several possible causes such as deficits in host  defenses or underlying situations affecting lung defense mechanisms.

Objective: To evaluate pattern of RP and its accompanying  risk factors in children admitted to Mansoura University Pediatric Hospital.

Patients and Methods: The present study was an  observational cross-sectional study with analytic component that was carried out on 180 patients. All patients were admitted to Mansoura  University Children Hospital and aged >2 years old and < 18 years old.

Results: RP represented 20% of all cases with  pneumonia of studied patient. There was statistically significant positive correlation between RP and positive consanguinity (P <0.001),  parental smoking (P 0.03), underweight (P 0.005) and Down syndrome (P 0.02).

Conclusion: Recurrent pneumonia is a threatening  problem contributing to 20% of total children admitted in Mansoura University with pneumonia during the period of our study.  Concerning predisposing factors for RP, our study shows that there was significant increase in prevalence of recurrent pneumonia within  cases with positive consanguinity, parental smoking, underweight and Down syndrome.