title: Clinical characteristics and outcome of children aged under 5 years hospitalized with severe pneumonia in Yemen.
abstract: A 1-year study of 529 Yemeni children under 5 years of age hospitalized for severe pneumonia was undertaken to define their clinical characteristics and to identify risk factors associated with death from pneumonia. There were 354 (66.9%) boys, 270 of the 529 (51%) were under 6 months of age and 457 (86.4%) were aged < or = 12 months. The clinical characteristics of the group were as follows. Boys constituted 70% of the group and under-1-year-olds 86%, weight-for-age was under 60% in 23%, clinical rickets was present in 50% and anaemia in 30% (30.1%). On admission, cyanosis was detected in 56%, heart failure in 21% and isolated hepatomegaly in 14%. Fifty-two children died (CFR 9.8%), of whom 25 (48%) were under 6 months of age and 20 (38.5%) were aged between 6 and 12 months. Only seven children aged over 1 year died from pneumonia. Weight-for-age less than 60%, rickets, haemoglobin < 10 g/dl, cyanosis and heart failure were associated with an increased risk of dying from severe pneumonia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Al-Sabeen Hospital for Women and Children, Sana'a, Yemen.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Banajeh
authors.forename: N N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: al-Sunbali
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: al-Sanahani
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000740:Anemia / Q000150:complications; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003490:Cyanosis / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000150:complications; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D012279:Rickets / Q000150:complications; D012307:Risk Factors; D015006:Yemen / Q000453:epidemiology