title: Burden of acute lower respiratory infection in children in Thailand in 2010: have we achieved the national target in under-five morbidity and mortality?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  National reports indicate that morbidity and mortality from pneumonia among Thai children has decreased dramatically since the turn of the millennia; notwithstanding, pneumonia remains the leading cause of admission and death in Thai children under five years of age.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the burden and pattern of acute lower respiratory infection in under-fives in Thailand from the health data in 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  Information on respiratory infection using the ICD10: J09-J22 was evaluated for the number of OPD visits, admissions, mortality, monthly incidence and co-morbidities of the mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  73% of all OPD visits with ALRI were in under-fives: one-fourth of whom required hospitalization. Pneumonia is the leading cause of both admissions and mortality (3.22% and 11.29/100,000 population for this age group, respectively). The highest mortality was in the first year of life (39/100,000). One-fourth of the children (168/639) died within 24 hours of admission and septicemia was the most common co-morbidity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The respective morbidity and mortality of pneumonia in under-fives fell far short of national targets. To achieve these targets, many key aspects are needed; such as, strengthening the knowledge of healthcare personnel, the cost-effectiveness researches on the causative organism detection and the expanding coverage of the preventable-vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand. jamtee@kku.ac.th
authors.forename: Jamaree
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teeratakulpisarn
authors.forename: Rattapon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uppala
authors.forename: Kaewjai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thepsuthammarat
authors.forename: Sumitr
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sutra
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology