TITLE:
Acute Pneumonia Characteristics in Children under Five Years of Age in Bamako, Mali
AUTHORS:
Fatoumata Dicko-Traoré, Abdoul Karim Doumbia, Mariam Sylla, Mariatou Traoré, Djènèba Konaté, Fatoumata Léonie Diakité, Karamoko Sacko, Belco Maiga, Hawa Diall, Oumar Coulibaly, Pierre Togo, Fousseyni Traoré, Abdoul Aziz Diakité, Yacouba Toloba
KEYWORDS:
Acute Pneumonia, Children, Mortality, Mali
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.9 No.1,
January
16,
2019
ABSTRACT: Pneumonia is the most common cause of
mortality in child under five years of age. The objective of the
study was to assess socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of children
under 5 hospitalized for pneumonia. Material and method: We conducted a
6 months prospective study from June 1st, 2016 to December 31st,
2016 in the general pediatric service in the Pediatric Department of Gabriel
Touré Teaching Hospital in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. Result: We
have selected 63 cases of pneumonia according to our definition criteria, i.e. 2.2%
of hospitalizations for children aged 1 to 59 months. The average age was 14
months. Infants under 2 years accounted for 82.53%. The sex ratio was 1.2.
Seventy eight percent came from an unfavorable socio-economic background. The
majority of mothers were uneducated (71.42%). Breastfeeding was exclusive up to
6 months in 50.79% of patients. Vaccination according to the national program
was not up to date in 27% of patients. The average consultation time was 18
days. On admission, 81% of the patients had a fever, 93.64% had a tachypnea and
58.73% had crackling rales at pulmonary auscultation. Hypoxemia was present in
58.73%. Severe anemia was present in 79.36%. Radiologically, opacity was found
in 42 patients (66.66%). The blood culture was positive in 8.3%. Beta-lactams
were first-line prescribed in all patients. The case fatality rate was 9.52%.
The factors associated with mortality were age less than 14 months (p = 0.08),
adverse socio-economic conditions (p = 0.0003) and the presence of hypoxemia at
the entrance (p = 0.01). Conclusion: Pneumonia remains major cause of morbidity and mortality in our context.
Emphasis should be put on preventive measures.