Clinical Profile Of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection In Children Aged 1-12 Years In A Tertiary Care Centre, Tamil Nadu

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Infection is a major public health problem especially among children aged less than five years. The burden of childhood pneumonia in India is around 30 million episodes of ARI and 0.14 million deaths annually. It is because of poor coverage of protection and preventive interventions in children that leads to increased risk of pneumonia. Knowledge on the common clinical presentation of children presenting with severe acute respiratory illness will help us to improve the survival. Methods: This observational study was conducted for a period of one year in a tertiary care hospital among children aged 1-12 years. Socio-demographic details, clinical features, laboratory investigation details obtained. Descriptive statistics used to describe the variables and chi-square test was used to study the factors associated with outcome of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness. Results: Most common symptoms were cough & cold (88.0%), fever (79.5%). Majority of the study participants had abnormal total count (57.5%), abnormal chest x ray findings (66.0%). Most of the participants were found to have bronchiolitis (25%), bronchopneumonia (24%). The factors such as female gender, preterm, participants with severe PRESS score, high CRP, and on mechanical ventilation found to be significantly associated with poor outcome. Conclusion: Children aged 1-5 years, male, and children from rural areas found to be more in the study. In our study female children, preterm, children with severe PRESS score, high CRP and children who were on mechanical ventilation showed a poor outcome.