Abstract
Objective: Hypoxaemia is a feature of severe pneumonia particularly among children aged less than five years. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and clinical predictors of hypoxaemia among children with pneumonia.Methods: It was a hospital-based cross-sectional observational study involving 129 children aged 1 - 59 months with both clinical and radiological pneumonia. The haemoglobin oxygen saturation (SPO ) was 2 obtained at presentation. Hypoxaemia was defined as SPO < 90 percent. 2Result: Of the129 subjects studied, 49 (38.0%) had hypoxaemia. The clinical signs that were significantly associated with hypoxaemia were central cyanosis (p= 0.012), grunting (p= 0.014), nasal flaring (p< 0.001), lethargy (p< 0.001), restlessness (p= 0.002), loss of consciousness (p< 0.001), and inability to feed (p< 0.001). A combination of nasal flaring with central cyanosis, grunting or tachypnoea were significant predictors of hypoxaemia (p= 0.029, 0.017 and <0.001 respectively). Tachypnoea and nasal flaring had the highest sensitivity and specificity among the clinical signs for hypoxaemia. Prolonged hospital stay (> 5 days) and mortality were significantly associated with hypoxaemia (p< 0.001).Conclusion: Hypoxaemia is common among children hospitalized for pneumonia. It is an important determinant of hospital stay and outcome.
 Keywords: Hypoxaemia, pneumonia, hospitalized children, under-fives, clinical predictors.
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