title: Trends in Hospitalization of Children with Bacterial Pneumonia in Poland.
abstract: The aim of the study was to evaluate the hospitalization trends in children aged 0-6 suffering from bacterial pneumonia in the years 2007-2011 in Poland.
  
  
  
  The data pertained to the hospitalized patients diagnosed with the diseases registered as J13-J15 according to ICD-10.
  
  
  
  In the years 2007-2011, the hospitalization rate increased from 16.3/10,000 to 44.1/10,000 for boys and from 13.8/10,000 to 33.0/10,000 for girls. The most frequently hospitalized children were between 1 and 2 years of age (90.6/10,000 for boys and 58.0/10,000 for girls in 2011). The average length of stay (LOS) of the investigated children fell from 10.1 days in 2007 to 8.2 days in 2011. The longest stays were recorded for the youngest children, under 2 years of age (from almost 11 days in 2007 to around 9 days in 2011).
  
  
  
  Bacterial pneumonia is a serious problem of public health and especially babies are at high risk of this disease. Given the effects of vaccinations against Streptococcus pneumoniae conducted all over the world and to a limited extend in Poland as well, further steps towards vaccinating children against pneumococci should be taken in Poland.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Postgraduate Education, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gajewska
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Postgraduate Education, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lewtak
authors.affiliation: Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands.|Department of Organization, Health Economics and Hospital Management, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scheres
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.affiliation: Centre for Monitoring and Analyses of Population Health Status and Health Care System, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Goryński
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: children; epidemiology; hospitalization; pneumonia; vaccination