Regresar

Incidence and clinical characteristics of children with community acquired pneumonia attending the hospital pediátrico “Baca Ortiz”, Ecuador

Abstract:

Objective: To determine the incidence and clinical characteristics of children with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) admitted to the Hospital Pediatrico “Baca Ortiz”, Ecuador. Materials and methods: This was an observational descriptive and retrospective study in infants admitted to the aforementioned hospital during the period from January to December 2016, the clinical data from medical records department were used, and the cumulative incidence during 2016 was calculated. Results: Out of the 645 infants, 283 were admitted with CAP diagnosis, the cumulative incidence was 43.8% for 2016. A higher frequency of those affected were male (56.5%; n=160) and 1-4 months old (49.8%; n=141), the presence of comorbidity was observed in 30.3% (n=86), the period of the year with the highest number of affected ones was January-March (44.5%; n=126), the majority of the patients were hospitalized >10 days (54.4%; n=154), the most frequent antibiotic therapy scheme was Ampicillin / Sulbactam plus Oxacillin (48.7%; n=138), with a period between 6-10 days of treatment as the most common one (63.6%; n=180). Conclusion: The incidence of CAP in children of the Hospital Pediátrico “Baca Ortiz” was 43.8% in 2016, higher than that shown on various population studies worldwide, including in Ecuador; revealing a high frequency of comorbidities and a hospital stay of more than 7 days in most cases.