A 6-year Retrospective Epidemiologic Study of Pediatric Pneumococcal Pneumonia in Taiwan

Background/Purpose

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most common diseases during childhood, and its features vary between countries. Death from CAP is rare in industrialized countries, but it is the leading cause of mortality in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology and morbidity of pneumococcal CAP (PCAP) in children hospitalized with pneumonia in Taiwan.

Methods

We retrospectively screened the medical records of 12,914 children hospitalized with pneumonia at four hospitals in Taiwan from 2000 to 2005. This included a suspected PCAP group (2350 patients) and a group with likely/definite pneumococcal pneumonia (PP group, 901 patients).

Results

From 2000, the frequency of suspected PCAP increased gradually every year, and peaked in 2003 (22.14%); while the proportion of likely/definite PP was highest in 2004 (9.75%). The likely/definite PP group accounted for 6.98% of the hospitalized pneumonia patients from 2000 to 2005. Of children hospitalized with pneumonia, 17.9% of the suspected PCAP group and 21.3% of the PP group were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Twenty-three patients died (14 in the PCAP and 9 in the PP groups) and nine (5 in the PCAP and 4 in the PP groups) were discharged with sequelae.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that children hospitalized with PCAP are common in Taiwan. About 20% of these children need ICU admissions, and some still have a poor outcome. Effective immunization programs with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine are needed for disease control and prevention.

Key Words:  bacterial , community acquired pneumonia , epidemiological study , immunization , Streptococcus pneumoniae

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