Revista de Ciencias Médicas de Pinar del Río (Aug 2019)
Clinical, epidemiological and imaging characterization of recurrent pneumonia, in children under five years old
Abstract
Introduction: recurrent pneumonia accounts for 8% in hospital admission studies, however the frequency of recurrent pneumonia arising in these settings is unknown, as a result there is under-registration in clinical records in most hospital institutions at discharge. No studies are reported regarding this topic in the province. Objective: to characterize clinically, epidemiologically and by imaging the recurrent pneumonia in children under five years old. Methods: an observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional research was conducted. The sample consisted of 328 patients having the diagnosis of recurrent pneumonia, who attended the period from October 2016 to October 2018, at Pepe Portilla Provincial Pediatric Teaching Hospital. The following variables were collected from the medical records: age, sex, underlying diseases, symptoms and clinical signs, chest X-ray and pulmonary tomography results. Results: the age group most represented was 2-3 years and male sex (58,5 % vs. 41,5 %). The most frequent symptom was cough and the clinical sign the polypnea. Bronchial asthma was the underlying disease that showed the highest frequency of presentation. Chest X-ray findings mostly confirmed bronchopneumonia lesion and in CT scans, multitabicated empyema. Conclusions: recurrent pneumonia is a common illness in this hospital, and imaging studies were essential to corroborate the diagnosis.
