PREVALENCE OF PNEUMONIA AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS AT SOROTI REGIONAL REFERRAL HOSPITAL

Abstract

Background: Pneumonia continues to be the foremost cause of morbidity and mortality among children under the age of five, resulting in the demise of 740,180 children globally and contributing to 14% of all deaths in this age group, with 22% of deaths occurring among children aged 1 to 5 years. Most researches have been conducted to establish factors that contribute to pneumonia but have reported inconsistent findings. Objectives: This study assessed the prevalence of pneumonia and its associated factors in children under-five years. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study at the Pediatric Department of Soroti Regional Referral Hospital, from the month of March to April 2024. The study included 385 children aged 2 to 59 months admitted to the pediatric ward. Pneumonia diagnosis was made according to the 2014 standard clinical WHO and integrated management of new born and childhood illness classification of cases. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data on socio demographic, socioeconomic, child related and facility related factors and bivariate analysis using Chi-square in SPSS version 27 was done to assess for the factors independently associated with pneumonia. Results: Of the 385 children admitted in the pediatric ward, 97 (25.2%) had pneumonia. Factors significantly associated with pneumonia included: age of the child (p= <0.001), level of maternal education (p= <0.001), housing conditions (p= <0.001), use of wood as fuel (p= <0.001), immunization status (p= <0.001), nutrition status (p= <0.001), exclusive breastfeeding (p=0.006), history of ARTI (p= <0.001), Vitamin A deficiency (p= <0.001), hospital stay (p= <0.001) and accessibility to health care services (p= <0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of pneumonia in children under-five years was high. Most of the factors associated with pneumonia are modifiable; addressing these factors could reduce this prevalence. The study recommends implementation of a comprehensive health care program at the community level in the study area to address the factors associated with pneumonia above.