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Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of children with clinical pneumonia, by severity

From: Epidemiology and risk factors for pneumonia severity and mortality in Bangladeshi children <5 years of age before 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduction

Characteristic

Total

N = 3639

Pneumoniaa

N = 1409

n (%)

Severe pneumoniaa

N = 2230

n (%)

P-value for comparison of pneumonia vs. severe pneumonia

Female gender

1291 (35.5)

475 (33.7)

816 (36.6)

0.08

Age

<0.001

 2–5 months

1169 (32.1)

348 (24.7)

821 (36.8)

 6–11 months

999 (27.5)

401 (28.5)

598 (26.8)

 12–59 months

1471 (40.4)

660 (46.8)

811 (36.4)

Weight for age

0.02

 Normal weight for age

2515 (69.1)

1005 (71.3)

1510 (67.7)

 Low weight for age

1120 (30.8)

402 (28.5)

718 (32.2)

 Unknown

4 (0.1)

2 (0.1)

2 (0.1)

Number of family members in household

0.39

 2–4

1580 (43.4)

596 (42.3)

984 (44.1)

  ≥ 5

2051 (56.4)

811 (57.6)

1240 (55.6)

 Unknown

8 (0.2)

2 (0.1)

6 (0.3)

Drinking sourceb

<0.001

 Safe water

3340 (91.8)

1333 (94.6)

2007 (90.0)

 Unsafe water

296 (8.1)

76 (5.4)

220 (9.9)

 Unknown

3 (0.1)

0 (0)

3 (0.1)

Latrine typec

0.03

 Hygienic

2111 (58.0)

785 (55.7)

1326 (59.5)

 Unhygienic

1525 (41.9)

624 (44.3)

901 (40.4)

 Unknown

3 (0.1)

0 (0)

3 (0.1)

Father’s educationd

0.001

 None

450 (12.4)

173 (12.3)

277 (12.4)

 Some primary

171 (4.7)

80 (5.7)

91 (4.1)

 Some secondary

1611 (44.3)

666 (47.3)

945 (42.4)

 Higher than secondary

1401 (38.5)

489 (34.7)

912 (40.9)

 Unknown

6 (0.2)

1 (0.1)

5 (0.2)

Mother’s educationd

<0.001

 None

300 (8.2)

105 (7.5)

195 (8.7)

 Some primary

211 (5.8)

84 (6.0)

127 (5.7)

 Some secondary

2206 (60.6)

918 (65.2)

1288 (57.8)

 Higher than secondary

916 (25.2)

300 (21.3)

616 (27.6)

 Unknown

6 (0.2)

2 (0.1)

4 (0.2)

Supplemental oxygen use during hospitalization

2184 (60.0)

753 (53.4)

1431 (64.1)

<0.001

Blood specimens collected prior to antibiotic administration

1254 (34.5)

444 (31.5)

810 (36.3)

0.003

Number of co-morbid conditionse

 0

3433 (94.3)

1349 (95.7)

2084 (93.5)

0.004

 1+

206 (5.7)

60 (4.3)

146 (6.5)

Pentavalent vaccination status per parent report (N = 3,433; 1331 pneumonia, 2102 severe pneumonia) f

<0.001

 None

198 (5.8)

51 (3.8)

147 (7.0)

 Partially vaccinated for age

741 (21.6)

209 (15.7)

532 (25.1)

 Fully vaccinated for age

2451 (71.4)

1056 (79.3)

1395 (66.4)

 Unknown

43 (1.3)

15 (1.1)

28 (1.3)

Outcome

<0.001

 Discharged

3401 (93.5)

1342 (95.2)

2059 (92.3)

 Referred

41 (1.1)

11 (0.8)

30 (1.3)

 Left against medical advice

127 (3.5)

39 (2.8)

88 (3.9)

 Died

63 (1.7)

11 (0.8)

52 (2.3)

 Unknown

7 (0.2)

6 (0.4)

1 (0)

  1. Percentages may not sum to 100% due to rounding
  2. aCase definitions: 1) Pneumonia: history of coughing or difficulty breathing and age-specific tachypnea without any of the following signs, including inability to drink or breastfeed, vomiting with a final discharge diagnosis code for pneumonia or severe pneumonia, convulsions, prostration/lethargy, chest indrawing, or stridor in a calm child); 2) Severe pneumonia: history of coughing or difficulty breathing and ≥1 of the aforementioned signs. Because the sign, “vomiting everything” was not specifically captured in the abstraction form, we included children with a history of vomiting who also had a final hospitalization diagnosis of pneumonia or severe pneumonia to improve specificity for this sign
  3. bSafe water sources include piped water (boiled) and tube well or deep tube well. Unsafe water sources include piped water (not boiled), surface water (e.g., pond, tank, lake, river, streams), and other sources not specified
  4. cHygienic latrines include septic tank/modern toilet and pit latrine (water sealed). Unhygienic latrines include pit latrine (not sealed), open or hanging latrine, and bush or field
  5. dEducation categories were defined as the following: some primary (1–4 years), some secondary (5–9 years), higher than secondary (10 years or more)
  6. eCo-morbid conditions: congenital heart disease, thalassemia, nephrotic syndrome, Down’s syndrome, protein energy malnutrition (PEM) and tuberculosis
  7. fVaccination status for pentavalent vaccines was collected from parents by verbal report. To be included, the child had to be age-eligible for the vaccine
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BMC Public Health

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