Pneumonia during the first two years of life does not increase risk of respiratory infections in preschool children.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between severe pneumonia during the first two years of life and subsequent respiratory infections in preschool children.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study. We interviewed parents of children who were classified as exposed (n = 36) or non-exposed (n = 84), based on whether they were hospitalized with radiologically-confirmed pneumonia during the first two years of life. The main outcomes were physician-diagnosed respiratory infections (acute otitis media, pharyngitis, and pneumonia) and use of antibiotics during the last 2 and 12 months.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences between two groups in terms of prevalence of acute otitis media, pharyngitis, pneumonia and use of antibiotics during the last 2 months (5.9 vs 6.2%, 14.3 vs 26.0%, 0.0 vs 1.2% and 36.7 vs 38.7% respectively; P > 0.05 for all comparisons) and during the last 12 months (20.6 vs 18.5%, 40.0 vs 45.5%, 2.8 vs 2.4% and 76.7 vs 77.3% respectively; P > 0.05 for all comparisons).


CONCLUSIONS
Pneumonia severe enough to require hospitalization during the first two years of life does not increase the risk of respiratory infections in preschool children.
Santos
José Carlos
JC
Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande-RS, Brazil.
Zhang
Linjie
L
Zogbi
Heruza E
HE
Menta
Luciana
L
Lima
Marina H
MH
Larentis
Natália
N
Ferrari
Samira G
SG
Chadha
Rashmi
R
D000367:Age Factors; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D015995:Prevalence; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents