Publication: Risk Factors for Pneumonia in Children under 5 Years in a Teaching Hospital in Nepal
Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kathmandu University
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background
Pneumonia is a leading cause of mortality among children under-five years of age
globally. The WHO (2014) has reported that indoor air pollution caused by cooking
and heating with biomass fuel, living in crowed homes and parenting smoking are
risk factors of pneumonia.
Objectives
The objective of the study was to identify the risk factors for pneumonia among
children under-5 years of age.
Methods
A case control study was carried out among the mothers having under-5 years
children who were admitted in the paediatric ward of Dhulikhel Hospital in 2012/13.
A convenience sampling technique was used to select 50 children with pneumonia
and 150 children with non-pneumonia diseases matched on age, sex and setting.
A semi-structured interview consisting of questions related to risk factors for
pneumonia was used to collect data from mothers of both cases and controls.
Results
Sex of the child did not differ by case/control group whereas the children with
pneumonia were slightly older with 26% cases and 15% controls older than 3 years
of age. Mother’s education was similar in both groups as was family income. Living
in a household with a chulo with smoke increased the odds of having pneumonia
significantly, with the risk almost 4 times greater if the chulo was located within the
same building (OR: 3.76, 95% CI: 1.20-11.82, p=0.02). Children who had diarrhea
in the past 3 months were protected from pneumonia (OR: 0.38, 95% CI: 0.18-
0.82, p=0.01). An increasing trend of pneumonia was observed among children of
tobacco smoking parents with greater risk if both parents smoked; it was, however,
not statically significant (OR: 2.21, 95% CI: 0.56-8.82, p=0.26).
Conclusion
The present study suggests that two factors related to smoke, presence of a smoky
chulo in a household and both parents smoking, are modifiable risk factors related
to pneumonia in young children. Reliable longitudinal studies, interventions, and
programs to educate parents in prevention are important for reducing mortality
and morbidities related to acute respiratory illnesses in Nepal.
KEY WORDS
Mothers, pneumonia, risk factors, under 5 children
Description
Karki S,1 Fitzpatrick AL,2 Shrestha S3
1Department of Nursing
Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences,
Dhulikhel, Nepal.
2Department of Family Medicine
Epidemiology and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA
3Department of Nursing
Tribhuwan University, Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Keywords
Mothers, Pneumonia, Risk factors, Under 5 children