Epidemiology and impacts of children hospitalized with pneumonia from 1997 to 2004 in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have investigated the epidemiology and disease burden of childhood pneumonia in Taiwan, a middle-income country.


METHODS
Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance database, we analyzed the annual population-based incidence and mortality rate of hospitalizations due to pneumonia in children under 18 years old from 1997 to 2004 in Taiwan.


RESULTS
The average annual incidence of hospitalized pneumonia was 1,240 episodes per 100,000 children in those below 18 years old. For children under 5 years old and for infants, the incidence was 3,965 and 4,984 out of 100,000, respectively. Boys were more likely to be affected than girls (male to female risk ratio 1.27, P < 0.001). The disease occurred most frequently in the spring and least frequently in the autumn (P < 0.001). In children below the age of 5 years old, mortality due to pneumonia was 6.7 per 100,000 per year for children and accounted for 4.2% of the total deaths in this population.


CONCLUSIONS
In Taiwan, pneumonia occurs most frequently in the spring, has an annual incidence of hospitalizations of 3,965 episodes per 100,000 children below the age of 5 years old. It accounts for a mortality rate of 6.7 per 100,000 children in that population, four times that of developed countries (1.6-1.8 episodes per 100,000 children-year).
Wu
Ping-Sheng
PS
Department of Pediatrics, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taipei Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chang
I-Shou
IS
Tsai
Fang-Yu
FY
Hsieh
Yu-Chia
YC
Shao
Pei-Lan
PL
Chang
Luan-Yin
LY
Huang
Li-Min
LM
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000401:mortality*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology