Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 107, Issue 12 , Pages 945-951, December 2008

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

  • Yi-Chuan Huang

      Affiliations

    • Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung Medical Center, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationYi-Chuan Huang and Yu-Huai Ho contributed equally to this work
    • ,
  • Yu-Huai Ho

      Affiliations

    • Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationYi-Chuan Huang and Yu-Huai Ho contributed equally to this work
    • ,
  • Yu-Chia Hsieh

      Affiliations

    • Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Children's Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Hsiao-Chuan Lin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Kao-Pin Hwang

      Affiliations

    • Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung Medical Center, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Luan-Yin Chang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Li-Min Huang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Li-Min Huang, Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan

Received 17 December 2007; received in revised form 10 April 2008; accepted 8 July 2008.

Article Outline

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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PII: S0929-6646(09)60018-8

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(09)60018-8

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 107, Issue 12 , Pages 945-951, December 2008

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