Socio-demographic and clinical pattern of childhood pneumonia in a tertiary hospital in Sokoto, Nigeria

Abstract

Context: Pneumonia is the world’s leading infectious killer of children, particularly under- fives. Practical, achievable and affordable key interventions have been identified to reduce morbidity and mortality from Pneumonia. Despite these measures, it still remains a disease that has significant impact on child’s survival.
Objectives: To determine the sociodemographic and clinical features of Pneumonia in hospitalized children at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto, Nigeria.
Materials and methods: A retrospective review of records of children admitted for Pneumonia over a 30-month period and relevant information eg. age, gender, symptoms and signs were documented.
Results: Of the189 children reviewed, 114(60.3%) were below 1 year of age, males were 108(57.1%) with a M:F ratio of 1.3:1. One hundred and twenty three (65.0%) belonged to the low socio-economic class (SEC) and only 95(50.3%) were fully immunized. Cough and fever were the commonest presenting symptoms while crepitations, chest in drawing and tachypnoea were the commonest signs. Majority 178(94.2%) had Bronchopneumonia while 11(5.8%) had Lobar Pneumonia. 151(79.9%) were discharged, 1(0.5%) absconded and 37(19.6%) died. Cough and fever were seen in more children that died, however it was not significant. Similarly, more children that had crepitations, tachypnoea, chest indrawing and hypoxaemia died, only chest in drawing was significantly associated with mortality (p=0.020).
Conclusion: Pneumonia is still a common cause of mortality, socio-demographic and clinical features remain similar to other reports. Despite the availability of preventive measures and treatment guidelines, mortality remains high. We recommend and advocate for equitable access to quality primary health care in order to prevent, diagnose and treat pneumonia.