1Dr Usman Khan, 2Maria Gulnaz,
1Peadiatric Medical Officer, District Head Quarter Hospital Batkhela
2AP Paediatrics, MMC General Hospital Peshawar
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Evidence showed that different factors were associated with occurrence of under-five pneumonia. Factors could be child, maternal, environmental, access to health care, overcrowding, indoor air pollution, Charcoal use for cooking, cooking within the main house, Malaria, Exclusive breast feeding, duration of breast feeding as well as nutritional status of the child.
Objective: To determine the frequency of factors leading to severe pneumonia in children under 5 years of age.
Study Design: Cross Sectional Study
Setting: Department of pediatrics, Saidu group of teaching hospital, Swat.
Duration of Study: This study was conducted from 10th November 2018 to 10th May 2019.
Subjects and methods: A total of 149 children with severe pneumonia were included in the study. Demographic information of patients like name, age, gender, weight on weighing machine was taken. Previous medical record was assessed for low birth weight and previous hospitalization. Parents/guardians was interviewed about household crowding, poor mother education and smoking in the homeas per operational definition. Blood test was done to confirm anemia from same hospital laboratory. All these factors were noted.
Results: Age range in this study was from ≥ 1 months to 5 years with mean age of 3.456±1.53 years and mean weight was 15.315±3.74 kg. Majority of the patients (72.5%) belongs to male gender. Low birth weight was seen in 13.4% patients, Previous Hospitalization 13.4%, Poor Nutritional Status 13.4%, House Hold Crowding 30.9%, Poor Mother Education 53.7%, Smoking at Home 26.8% and anemia was 80.5%.
Conclusion:
The study concluded that the pneumonia is more prevalent in children less than three year. Anemia in children was dominant factor for severe pneumonia followed by poor mother education and household crowding.
Keywords: Children, Severe pneumonia, Factors