Care seeking behaviour and aspects of quality of care by caregivers for children under five with and without pneumonia in Ibadan, Nigeria

Predicting the potential impact of scaling up four pneumonia interventions on under-five pneumonia mortality: A prospective Lives Saved Tool (LiST) analysis for Bangladesh, Chad, and Ethiopia

Background

Pneumonia remains the leading cause of mortality in under-five children outside the neonatal period. Progress has slowed down in the last decade, necessitating increased efforts to scale up effective pneumonia interventions.

Methods

We used the Lives Saved Tool (LiST), a modelling software for child mortality in low- and middle-income settings, to prospectively analyse the potential impact of upscaling pneumonia interventions in Bangladesh, Chad, and Ethiopia from 2023 to 2030. We included Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccination, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), oral antibiotics, pulse oximetry, and oxygen as pneumonia interventions in our analysis. Outcomes of interest were the number of pneumonia deaths averted, the proportion of deaths averted by intervention, and changes in the under-five mortality rate.

Findings

We found that 19 775 lives of children under-five could be saved in Bangladesh, 76 470 in Chad, and 97 343 in Ethiopia by scaling intervention coverages to ≥90% by 2030. Our estimated reductions in pneumonia deaths among children under five range from 44.61% to 57.91% in the respective countries. Increased coverage of oral antibiotics, pulse oximetry, and oxygen show similar effects in all three countries, averting between 18.80% and 23.65% of expected pneumonia deaths. Scaling-up PCV has a prominent effect, especially in Chad, where it could avert 14.04% of expected pneumonia deaths. Under-five mortality could be reduced by 1.42 per 1000 live births in Bangladesh, 22.52 per 1000 live births in Chad, and 5.48 per 1000 live births in Ethiopia.

Conclusions

This analysis shows the high impact of upscaling pneumonia interventions. The lack of data regarding coverage indicators is a barrier for further research, policy, and implementation, all requiring increased attention.

Delay in healthcare seeking for young children with severe pneumonia at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Uganda: A mixed methods cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Globally, pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of under-five mortality, and this can be reduced by prompt healthcare seeking. Data on factors associated with delays in seeking care for children with pneumonia in Uganda is scarce.

OBJECTIVES

The study aimed to determine the prevalence, factors associated with delay, barriers, and facilitators of prompt healthcare seeking for children under five years of age with severe pneumonia attending Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH) Uganda.

METHODS

A mixed methods cross-sectional study was conducted among 384 caregivers of children with severe pneumonia at MNRH. Quantitative data was collected using interviewer-administered structured questionnaires and qualitative data through focus group discussions with caregivers. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the prevalence of delay in care seeking. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors that were independently associated with delay in seeking healthcare. Content thematic analysis was used to analyze for barriers and facilitators of prompt healthcare seeking.

RESULTS

The prevalence of delay in seeking healthcare was 53.6% (95% CI: 48.6-58.6). Long distance to a hospital (AOR = 1.94, 95% CI 1.22-3.01, p value = 0.003), first seeking care elsewhere (AOR = 3.33, 95% CI 1.85-6.01, p value = 0.001), and monthly income ≤100,000 UGX (28 USD) (AOR = 2.27,95% CI 1.33-3.86, p value = 0.003) were independently associated with delay in seeking healthcare. Limited knowledge of symptoms, delayed referrals, self-medication, and low level of education were barriers to prompt healthcare seeking while recognition of symptoms of severe illness in the child, support from spouses, and availability of money for transport were key facilitators of early healthcare seeking.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that more than half of the caregivers delayed seeking healthcare for their children with pneumonia symptoms. Caregivers who first sought care elsewhere, lived more than 5 km from the hospital, and earned less than 28 USD per month were more likely to delay seeking healthcare for their children with severe pneumonia. Limited knowledge of symptoms of pneumonia, self-medication, and delayed referral hindered prompt care-seeking. Key facilitators of prompt care-seeking were accessibility to health workers, support from spouses, and recognition of symptoms of severe illness in children. There is a need for programs that educate caregivers about pneumonia symptoms, in children less than five years.

Pneumonia knowledge and care seeking behavior for children under-five years in Jigawa, Northwest Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Background

Between 2013 and 2022, Nigeria did not meet globally defined targets for pneumonia control, despite some scale-up of vaccinations, oxygen and antibiotics. A deliberate focus on community-based programs is needed to improve coverage of protective, preventive and treatment interventions. We therefore aimed to describe caregiver knowledge and care seeking behaviour for childhood pneumonia, in a high child mortality setting in Nigeria, to inform the development of effective community-based interventions for pneumonia control.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional household survey in Kiyawa Local Government Area, Jigawa State, Nigeria between December 2019 and March 2020. We asked caregivers about their knowledge of pneumonia symptoms, prevention, risks, and treatment. A score of 1 was assigned for each correct response. We showed them videos of pneumonia specific symptoms and asked (1) if their child had any respiratory symptoms in the 2-weeks prior; (2) their subsequent care-seeking behaviour. Multivariate regressions explored socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with care seeking.

Results

We surveyed 1,661 eligible women, with 2,828 children under-five. Only 4.9% of women could name both cough and difficulty/fast breathing as pneumonia symptoms, and the composite knowledge scores for pneumonia prevention, risks and treatment were low. Overall, 19.0% (536/2828) of children had a report of pneumonia specific symptoms in the prior two-weeks, and of these 32.3% (176/536) were taken for care. The odds of care seeking was higher among children: with fever (AOR:2:45 [95% CI: 1.38-4.34]); from wealthiest homes (AOR: 2:13 [95% CI: 1.03-4.38]) and whose mother first married at 20-26 years compared to 15-19 years (AOR: 5.15 [95% CI: 1.38-19.26]). Notably, the caregiver's knowledge of pneumonia was not associated with care seeking.

Conclusion

While some socio-demographic factors were associated with care seeking for children with symptoms of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), caregiver's knowledge of the disease was not. Therefore, when designing public health interventions to address child mortality, information-giving alone is likely to be insufficient.

Health itinerary-related survival of children under-five with severe malaria or bloodstream infection, DR Congo

BACKGROUND

Prompt appropriate treatment reduces mortality of severe febrile illness in sub-Saharan Africa. We studied the health itinerary of children under-five admitted to the hospital with severe febrile illness in a setting endemic for Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria and invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella infections, identified delaying factors and assessed their associations with in-hospital death.

METHODOLOGY

Health itinerary data of this cohort study were collected during 6 months by interviewing caretakers of children (>28 days - <5 years) admitted with suspected bloodstream infection to Kisantu district hospital, DR Congo. The cohort was followed until discharge to assess in-hospital death.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

From 784 enrolled children, 36.1% were admitted >3 days after fever onset. This long health itinerary was more frequent in children with bacterial bloodstream infection (52.9% (63/119)) than in children with severe Pf malaria (31.0% (97/313)). Long health itinerary was associated with in-hospital death (OR = 2.1, p = 0.007) and two thirds of deaths occurred during the first 3 days of admission. Case fatality was higher in bloodstream infection (22.8% (26/114)) compared to severe Pf malaria (2.6%, 8/309). Bloodstream infections were mainly (74.8% (89/119)) caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella. Bloodstream infections occurred in 20/43 children who died in-hospital before possible enrolment and non-typhoidal Salmonella caused 16 out of these 20 bloodstream infections. Delaying factors associated with in-hospital death were consulting traditional, private and/or multiple providers, rural residence, prehospital intravenous therapy, and prehospital overnight stays. Use of antibiotics reserved for hospital use, intravenous therapy and prehospital overnight stays were most frequent in the private sector.

CONCLUSIONS

Long health itineraries delayed appropriate treatment of bloodstream infections in children under-five and were associated with increased in-hospital mortality. Non-typhoidal Salmonella were the main cause of bloodstream infection and had high case fatality.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT04289688.

Factors associated with health-seeking behavior amongst children in the context of free market: Household study in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2011

BACKGROUND

Limited access to healthcare among children in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a major cause of poor infant health indicators. Although many speculate that the private sector expansion has overwhelmingly reinforced health systems' utilization, little is known as to whether and where children are cared for when they are sick. This study investigated health-seeking behavior (HSB) among children from an urban area of Burkina Faso, with respect to disease severity and the type of provider versus children's characteristics.

METHODS

A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso using a two-stage sampling strategy. 1,098 households (2,411 children) data were collected. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to analyze providers' choice for emergency, severe and non-severe conditions; sex-preference was further assessed with a χ2 test.

RESULTS

Thirty-six percent of children requiring emergency care sought private providers, as did 38% with severe conditions. Fifty-seven percent with non-severe conditions were self-medicated. A multivariable GEE indicated that University-educated household-heads would bring their children to for-profit (instead of public) providers for emergency (OR = 3.51, 95%CI = 1.90; 6.48), severe (OR = 4.05, 95%CI: 2.24; 7.30), and non-severe (OR = 3.25, 95%CI = 1.25; 8.42) conditions. A similar pattern was observed for insured and formal jobholders. Children's sex, age and gender was not associated with neither the type of provider preference nor the assessed health condition.

CONCLUSION

Private healthcare appeared to be crucial in the provision of care to children. The household head's socioeconomic status and insurance coverage significantly distinguished the choice of care provider. However, the phenomenon of son-preference was not found. These findings spotlighted children's HSB in Burkina Faso.

Prevalence of pneumonia and malnutrition among children in Jigawa state, Nigeria: a community-based clinical screening study

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the point prevalence of pneumonia and malnutrition and explore associations with household socioeconomic factors.

DESIGN

Community-based cross-sectional study conducted in January-June 2021 among a random sample of households across all villages in the study area.

SETTING

Kiyawa Local Government Area, Jigawa state, Nigeria.

PARTICIPANTS

Children aged 0-59 months who were permanent residents in Kiyawa and present at home at the time of the survey.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Pneumonia (non-severe and severe) defined using WHO criteria (2014 revision) in children aged 0-59 months. Malnutrition (moderate and severe) defined using mid-upper arm circumference in children aged 6-59 months.

RESULTS

9171 children were assessed, with a mean age of 24.8 months (SD=15.8); 48.7% were girls. Overall pneumonia (severe or non-severe) point prevalence was 1.3% (n=121/9171); 0.6% (n=55/9171) had severe pneumonia. Using an alternate definition that did not rely on caregiver-reported cough/difficult breathing revealed higher pneumonia prevalence (n=258, 2.8%, 0.6% severe, 2.2% non-severe). Access to any toilet facility was associated with lower odds of pneumonia (aOR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.31 to 1.01). The prevalence of malnutrition (moderate or severe) was 15.6% (n=1239/7954) with 4.1% (n=329/7954) were severely malnourished. Being older (aOR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.27), male (aOR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.66 to 0.91) and having head of compound a business owner or professional (vs subsistence farmer, aOR 0.71; 95% CI: 0.56 to 0.90) were associated with lower odds of malnutrition.

CONCLUSIONS

In this large, representative community-based survey, there was a considerable pneumonia and malnutrition morbidity burden. We noted challenges in the diagnosis of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness-defined pneumonia in this context.

Determinants of care-seeking behaviour for fever, acute respiratory infection and diarrhoea among children under five in Nigeria

Background

Despite available, inexpensive and effective treatments, malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia still contribute the majority of the global burden of childhood morbidity and mortality. Nigeria has the highest absolute numbers of child deaths worldwide. Appropriate care-seeking is important for prompt diagnosis, appropriate and timely treatment, and prevention of complications. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine the prevalence of and factors associated with appropriate care-seeking for childhood illnesses.

Methods

We used the most recent Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (2018) to assess the prevalence of appropriate care-seeking among mothers of children under five with symptoms of common childhood illnesses. For diarrhoea, we defined appropriate care-seeking as seeking care from a formal health provider. For fever and acute respiratory infection (ARI), appropriate care-seeking was defined as seeking care from a formal provider the day of or after symptom onset. Multivariate logistic regression was carried out to assess factors associated with optimal care-seeking for each illness.

Results

At least 25% of parents did not seek any care for children with fever or ARI; this figure was over one third for diarrhoea. Only 15% and 13% of caregivers showed appropriate care-seeking for their children with fever and ARI respectively, and 27% of mothers sought care from a formal provider for diarrhoea. Predictors of appropriate care-seeking varied according to childhood illness. Previous facility delivery was the only risk factor associated with increased odds of appropriate care-seeking for all three illnesses; other risk factors varied between illnesses.

Conclusion

Overall, care-seeking for childhood illnesses was suboptimal among caregivers in Nigeria. Interventions to increase caregivers’ awareness of the importance of appropriate care-seeking are needed alongside quality of care interventions that reinforce people’s trust in formal health facilities, to improve timely care-seeking and ultimately reduce the high burden of child deaths in Nigeria.

Innovative, enhanced community management of non-hypoxaemic chest-indrawing pneumonia in 2-59-month-old children: a cluster-randomised trial in Africa and Asia

Introduction

The WHO recommends oral amoxicillin for 2–59-month-old children with chest-indrawing pneumonia presenting at the health facility. Community-level health workers (CLHWs) are not allowed to treat these children when presented at the community level. This study aimed to evaluate whether CLHWs can safely and effectively treat children 2–59 months-old with chest indrawing with a 5-day course of oral amoxicillin in a few selected countries in Africa and Asia, especially when a referral is not feasible.

Methods

We conducted a prospective multicountry cluster-randomised, open-label, non-inferiority trial in rural areas of four countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Malawi) from September 2016 to December 2018. Children aged 2–59 months having parents/caregivers reported cough and/or difficult breathing presenting to a CLHW were screened for enrolment. CLHWs in the intervention clusters assessed children for hypoxaemia and treated non-hypoxaemic chest-indrawing pneumonia with two times per day oral amoxicillin (50 mg/kg body weight per dose) for 5 days at the community level. CLHWs in the control clusters identified chest indrawing and referred them to a referral-level health facility for treatment. Study supervisors performed pulse oximetry in the control clusters except in Bangladesh. Children were assessed for the primary outcome (clinical treatment failure) up to day 14 after enrolment. The accuracy and impact of pulse oximetry by CLHWs in the intervention clusters were also assessed.

Results

In 208 clusters, 1688 CLHWs assessed 62 363 children with cough and/or difficulty breathing. Of these, 4013 non-hypoxaemic 2–59-month-old children with chest-indrawing pneumonia were enrolled. We excluded 116 children from analysis, leaving 3897 for intention-to-treat analysis. In the intervention clusters, 4.3% (90/2081) failed treatment, including five deaths, while in the control clusters, 4.4% (79/1816) failed treatment, including five deaths. The adjusted risk difference was -0.01 (95% CI −1.5% to 1.5%), which satisfied the prespecified non-inferiority criterion. CLHWs correctly performed pulse oximetry in 91.1% (2001/2196) of cases in the intervention clusters.

Conclusions

The community treatment of non-hypoxaemic children with chest-indrawing pneumonia with 5-day oral amoxicillin by trained, equipped and supervised CLHWs is non-inferior to currently recommended facility-based treatment. These findings encourage a review of the existing strategy of community-based management of pneumonia.

Trial registration

ACTRN12617000857303; The Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry.

Community-based amoxicillin treatment for fast breathing pneumonia in young infants 7-59 days old: a cluster randomised trial in rural Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Malawi

INTRODUCTION

Young infants 7-59 days old with fast breathing pneumonia presented to a primary level health facility receive a 7-day course of amoxicillin as per the WHO guideline. However, community-level health workers (CLHW) are not allowed to treat these infants. This trial evaluated the community level treatment of non-hypoxaemic young infants with fast breathing pneumonia by CLHWs.

METHODS

This cluster-randomised, open-label, non-inferiority trial was conducted in rural areas of Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Malawi. We randomly allocated clusters (first-level health facility) 1:1, stratified by the population size, to an intervention group (enhanced community case management) or control group (standard community case management). Infants aged 7-59 days with a respiratory rate of ≥60 breaths/min and oxygen saturation (SpO2) ≥90% were enrolled. In the intervention clusters, these infants were treated with a 7-day course of oral amoxicillin (according to WHO weight bands) and were regularly followed up by CLHWs. In the control clusters, CLHWs continued the standard management (assess and refer after pre-referral antibiotic dose) and followed up according to the national programme guideline. The primary outcome of treatment failure was assessed in both groups by independent outcome assessors on days 6 and 14 after enrolment. Secondary outcomes (accuracy and impact of pulse oximetry) were also assessed.

RESULTS

Between September 2016 and December 2018, we enrolled 2334 infants (1168 in intervention and 1166 in control clusters) from 208 clusters (104 intervention and 104 control). Of 2334, 22 infants with fast breathing were excluded from analysis, leaving 2312 (1155 in intervention clusters and 1157 in control clusters) for intention-to-treat analysis. The proportion of treatment failure was 5.4% (63/1155) in intervention and 6.3% (73/1157) in the control clusters, including two deaths (0.2%) in each group. The adjusted risk difference for treatment failure between the two groups was -1.0% (95% CI -3.0% to 1.1%). The secondary outcome showed that CLHWs in the intervention clusters performed all recommended steps of pulse oximetry assessment in 94% (1050/1115) of enrolled patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The 7-day amoxicillin treatment for 7-59 days old non-hypoxaemic infants with fast breathing pneumonia by CLHWs was non-inferior to the currently recommended referral strategy.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS

CTRI/2017/02/007761 and ACTRN12617000857303.

Determinants of Pneumonia in Toddlers in Jambi City

Background: Pneumonia is an acute respiratory infection and the second leading cause of toddler deaths in Indonesia. Nutritional status, immunization status, and humidity in the house constitute risk factors for the incidence and prevalence of pneumonia. Purpose: The objective of this research is to analyze the determinants of nutritional status, immunization status, and air humidity against the incidence of pneumonia in toddlers in Jambi City. Methods: This was an observational study. A case-control design approach was adopted. The research location was the Public Health Center of Talang Bakung in Jambi City, which has the highest prevalence of pneumonia cases. This study was conducted from January 2019 to August 2019. The number of samples in this study was 66 toddlers, with a 1:1 ratio of cases. Data was collected using a multistage random sampling technique. Primary and secondary data obtained was analyzed with a logistic regression test method. Results: The highest proportion of pneumonia cases was observed in toddlers between the ages of 12 and 35 months (75.76%). The proportion of female toddlers was 57.58%, with the number of siblings being ≥1 (93.94%). The proportion of people who completed secondary level maternal education was 60.61%, which was higher than the proportion of people who completed secondary level paternal education (54.55%). The employment status of fathers was 96.97%. Underweight status was associated with pneumonia (AOR=5.81; 95%CI=1.07–31.68). Inadequate air humidity was associated with the incidence of pneumonia (AOR=7.37; 95%CI=1.80–30.13). Conclusion: Nutritional status and air humidity were identified as determinants of pneumonia in toddlers in Jambi city.

Effect of continuous nursing on nursing quality and patient quality of life and satisfaction among children with pneumonia

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of continuous nursing care on children with pneumonia, including patient survival and quality of life.

METHODS

We included 90 children with pneumonia who were admitted to our hospital from May 2017 to June 20, 2017. We established two patient groups (45 children per group); the routine group received general care and the continuous group received continuous nursing care. We observed the correlation among nursing effectiveness, clinical symptom improvement, quality of life, satisfaction, and complications.

RESULTS

Our results showed that effectiveness in the continuous care group was 95.55%, significantly higher than that in the routine group (75.55%). Duration of hypothermia (1.75 ± 0.65 days), time to cough remission (4.24 ± 1.12 days), time to rale remission (4.15 ± 0.89 days), and time to remission of shortness of breath (2.65 ± 0.65 days) in the continuous group was shorter than those in the routine group. The incidence of total complications in the continuous group was 8.89%, which was significantly lower than that in the routine group (26.67%). The continuous care group showed greater improvement after intervention.

CONCLUSION

Continuous care in children with pneumonia can help to reduce illness severity, pain, heart and lung failure, and serve to avoid medical disputes.

Factors affecting mothers' intentions to visit healthcare facilities before hospitalisation of children with pneumonia in Biliran province, Philippines: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Despite a substantial reduction in the mortality rate of children under 5 years in the past 25 years, pneumonia remains the single-largest infectious cause of child deaths worldwide. This study explored the chronological order of visited healthcare facilities and practitioners, and the factors affecting mothers' intention to seek care before the hospitalisation of children with pneumonia.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

A qualitative research design was employed using theory of planned behaviour as a framework for the analysis. Using purposive sampling technique, 11 mothers, whose children under 5 years old were hospitalised with severe pneumonia, were recruited for individual semi-structured interviews. Their socio-demographic information was analysed using descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

Mothers brought their sick children to multiple facilities, and 1 to 19 days had passed before hospitalisation. We identified four major factors determining mothers' intentions: (1) doing something useful for the sick child, (2) expecting the child to receive the necessary assessment and treatment, (3) accepting advice to visit a healthcare facility and be referred to a hospital and (4) considering issues and benefits associated with hospitalisation. Mothers noticed their children's unusual symptoms and monitored them while applying home remedies. They also took their children to traditional healers despite knowing that the treatments were not necessarily effective. Mothers expected children to be checked by health professionals and listened to advice from family members regarding the facilities to visit, and from healthcare staff to be referred to a hospital. Financial issues and the double burden of housework and caring for the hospitalised child were mothers' major concerns about hospitalisation.

CONCLUSION

Children were hospitalised after several days because they visited multiple healthcare facilities, including traditional healers. Improving care quality at healthcare facilities and reducing financial and mothers' burden may reduce the hospitalisation delay for children with pneumonia.

Community and caregivers' perceptions of pneumonia and care-seeking experiences in Nigeria: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Appropriate and timely care seeking can reduce pneumonia deaths, but are influenced by caregivers and community norms of health and illness. We explore caregiver and community perceptions, and care-seeking experience, of childhood pneumonia, to understand contexts that drive pediatric service uptake in Nigeria.

METHODS

Community group discussions and qualitative interviews with caregivers in Lagos and Jigawa states were completed between 1 November 2018 and 31 May 2019. Participants were recruited from purposively sampled health facility catchment areas with assistance from facility staff. We used episodic interviews, asking caregivers (Jigawa = 20; Lagos = 15) to recount specific events linked to quests for therapy. Community group discussions (n = 3) used four vignettes from real pneumonia cases to frame a discussion around community priorities for healthcare and community-led activities to improve child survival. Data were analyzed using the framework method.

RESULTS

We found poor knowledge of pneumonia-specific symptoms and risk factors among caregivers and community members, with many attributing pneumonia to cold air exposure. Interviews highlighted that care-seeking decision making involved both husbands and wives, but men often made final decisions. In Lagos, older female relatives also shaped quests for therapy. Cost was a major consideration. In both states, there were accounts of dissatisfaction with health workers' attitudes and a general acceptance of vaccination services.

CONCLUSION

There is a need for community-based approaches to improve caregiver knowledge and care seeking for under-five children with pneumonia. Messaging should attend to knowledge of symptoms, risk factors, family dynamics, and community responsibilities in healthcare service delivery and utilization.

Prevalence of upper respiratory tract infections and associated factors among children in Turkey

PURPOSE

Upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) are the most common diseases observed in children aged 0-6 years in Turkey. This study was conducted to investigate URIs in 0-6 year-old children in Turkey.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Data of children aged 0-6 years who were included in the 2014 Turkey Health Survey conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute were collected from their parents.

RESULTS

In total, 1,293 and 1,732 children with and without URIs, respectively, were identified. The weighted point prevalence of URIs was 42.23%. Compared with the uninsured and female children belonging to high-income families, insured male children belonging to low-income families were more likely to develop URIs (p < .001). Moreover, comorbidities such as communicable diseases, anemia and diarrhea, and factors like health services utilization were associated with URIs. Analysis of health services utilization highlights that URIs were reported more among the children who had not visited a hospital than among those who had visited a hospital, with an odds ratio of 1.23.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study provide a deeper understanding of sociodemographic, comorbid, and health services utilization factors associated with URIs. These results provide useful insights for pediatric nursing professionals to improve the quality and efficiency of pediatric respiratory nursing services.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Collaborative networks with other health professionals, parents, and public health policy-makers are essential to decrease the prevalence of URIs in Turkey. These study results provide several insights for health professionals to improve pediatric action plans for ultimately improving child health status.

Pathogens Causing Respiratory Tract Infections in Children Less Than 5 Years of Age in Senegal

Introduction:

While acute respiratory tract infections are the main cause of paediatric mortality and morbidity worldwide, pathogen patterns shift due to factors such as hygiene, vaccinations, and antibiotic resistance. Knowledge about current cause of respiratory infections is lacking, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to identity the various respiratory pathogens causing acute respiratory tract infections in children below 5 years of age visiting a sub-urban primary care clinic in Senegal.

Methods:

A case-control study was performed in September and October 2018. Oropharyngeal swabs were collected from cases; infants with fever and respiratory symptoms, and controls; children involved in the vaccination programme. Viral identification was conducted by polymerase chain reaction for 21 different viruses; bacteria were identified by culture studies. Associations between microorganisms, acute respiratory infection and severity of disease were calculated by multivariate regression adjusting for confounders such as age, sex, and living area.

Results:

Overall, 102 cases and 96 controls were included. Microorganisms were detected in 90.1% of cases and 53.7% of controls (P < .001). Influenza virus A (including H1N1), influenza virus B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Streptococcus pneumoniae were independently associated with acute respiratory tract infections. Co-detection of two or more pathogens was present in 49.5% of cases; 31.7% of cases had a pneumonia and 90.2% was treated with antibiotics.

Conclusions:

This case-control study in a primary care setting in sub-Saharan Africa found influenza virus A and B, RSV, and S pneumoniae to be the main causes of acute respiratory tract infections in children below 5 years of age. We recommend evaluation of antibiotics prescription behaviour in this setting.