Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

Background: Acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTI) are the main cause of morbidity and mortality in young children. These accounts for 33-50% mortality in children below 5 years of age, most of them in underdeveloped countries. Objectives:To identify the outcome of acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTI) in under five years old childrenand to evaluate their correlation with complications, mortality and the length of hospital stay. Methods: A prospective cohort study included 75 patients aged between 1 month and 5 years who were hospitalized at Cairo university pediatric hospital suffering from acute lower respiratory tract infections, during the period from February 2015 to January 2016. Results: The incidence of different acute lower respiratory tract infections at admission was:pneumonia (68%) and bronchiolitis (32%). Lack of exclusive breast feeding, incomplete immunization, malnutrition and anemia were identified as significant risk factors for ALRTI. Mortality percentage was 6.7% and was associated withprolonged hospital stay, mechanical ventilation,cyanosis and hypocalcemiawith no significant independent predictors of mortality. Conclusion:Pneumonia and bronchiolitis were the presenting disorders in our study and were associated with many demographic, clinical, hematological and radiological findings affecting their outcome either mortality or morbidity. Thus, collection, interpretation and study of these findings should be performed thoroughly

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