Abstract

CLINICAL TREATMENT OUTCOMES OF PNEUMONIA AMONG HOSPITALIZED PEDIATRIC PATIENTS IN NEKEMTE REFERRAL HOSPITAL, PEDIATRICS WARD, ETHIOPIA

Getu Bayisa*, Yoseph Likey and Balisa Mosisa

ABSTRACT

Introduction: In Ethiopia, pneumonia is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric population. Regardless of improved coverage of preventive interventions, approximately 4 million childhood pneumonia cases are occurring in Ethiopia annually and majority of these children have limited access to quality facility based clinical care. The assessment of clinical treatment outcome of pneumonia would have paramount importance to know extent of pneumonia management and the extent of the care. The study was aimed at evaluating the clinical treatment outcomes of pneumonia in pediatric patients admitted to pediatrics ward of Nekemte Referral Hospital; Western Ethiopia. Materials and Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study design was conducted on 222 hospitalized pediatric patients in Pediatrics ward of Nekemte Referral Hospital from March 1 to May 30, 2015. Structured questionnaires and medical chart were used to determine clinical treatment outcome. The study participants were followed throughout their hospital stay from admission to day of discharge. The data was processed and analyzed for descriptive statistics using SPSS 20. Results: The majority of patients, 99 (44.5%) were infants. The study identified 144(64.9%) patients had severe pneumonia. The study showed 130 (58.6) patients had co-morbid disease along with pneumonia. The patients who had immunized were 106(47.75%) while 116(52.25) had been not immunized. The clinical treatment outcome was found to be 154 (69.4%) cured without development of any complications but 57(25.7%) had deteriorated condition developing one or more complications. Yet, 13 (5.85%) were died of pneumonia despite treatment. Ceftriaxone and gentamycin in combination alone constituted 81(36.4%) of treatment regimen followed by crystalline penicillin, 80 (36%). Among admitted patients 151 (68%) were administered parenteral antibiotics for more than 3 days. The caretakers sought care within 3-7 days of recognition of the signs for 99 (44.6%) of patients. Conclusion: The care seeking behavior was poor in this study population. The clinical treatment outcome of the patients was poor with more than quarter of deteriorated pneumonia 13(5.85) pateints were died. Antibiotics could have been over utilized since bronchodilators or both had been used with parenteral antibiotics.

Keywords: Pneumonia, Clinical treatment outcome, pediatric.