Childhood Pneumonia: A 5- Year Review of Types, Presentation and Treatment Outcome in a Tertiary Hospital in South-South Nigeria

Childhood pneumonia is the number one leading cause of under-five mortality in the world today and it accounted for more than 800,000 deaths in the year 2018. The study aims to determine the hospital prevalence of pneumonia, the types and the treatment outcome of affected children in the Delta State University Teaching Hospital in the last 5 years. The study was a review of the cases of pneumonia admitted into the Paediatric Department of the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH) in the last 5 years. All cases managed for pneumonia in the department were identified by hospital number and the folders retrieved. Data such as age, gender, weight, nutritional status, social class, immunization status, presenting symptoms, duration of symptoms, signs, chest radiograph findings and treatment outcome were documented. The diagnosis of pneumonia was based on the presence of cough, fast breathing or chest indrawing in children less than 5 years. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet and was analyzed. There were 897 children seen over the period under review with 468 (52.2%) males and 429 (47.8%) females. The hospital prevalence of pneumonia was 4.0% and it occurred mainly in infants. Bronchopneumonia was the predominant presentation with lobar pneumonias occurring only in children less than 2 years of age. The overall treatment outcome of pneumonia was good. The hospital prevalence of childhood pneumonia among admitted children was low and occurred mainly in infants. Bronchopneumonia was the commonest presentation, and the treatment outcome of affected children was good