Risk factors of paediatric community-acquired pneumonia

M Don

doi:10.1183/09031936.00164010

Abstract

To the Editors: The article by Teepe et al. 1 recently published in the European Respiratory Journal is an interesting paper on the risk factors of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children and adults in a primary-care setting. The study population consisted of 156 young adults and 107 children (aged <15 yrs) suffering from CAP, and three controls were selected for each case from the same age group. The criteria for the diagnosis of CAP were either a radiological confirmation or the presence of at least three out of six defined respiratory signs/symptoms. Focusing on the paediatric age only, the multivariate analysis showed that lower age (OR 0.88), asthma (OR 3.57) and previous upper respiratory tract infections (OR 1.80 for one to two episodes and 2.46 for more than three episodes) were independently associated with CAP in children. Several aspects of the study by Teepe et al. 1 should be underlined. First, as conveniently evidenced by the authors, not all the diagnosis of CAP were radiologically confirmed, thus probably biasing the …

Highlights

To the Editors: The article by TEEPE et al [1] recently published in the European Respiratory Journal is an interesting paper on the risk factors of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children and adults in a primary-care setting
Among the inclusion criteria the authors included non-Western minorities [1] but not the definite risk factors for CAP typical in developing countries and which explain the higher incidence found in these countries [5]
The authors found that lower age is as an independent determinant of CAP in the paediatric population [1], but this practical aspect has probably not been stressed and discussed enough

Summary

Introduction

To the Editors: The article by TEEPE et al [1] recently published in the European Respiratory Journal is an interesting paper on the risk factors of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children and adults in a primary-care setting. Among the inclusion criteria the authors included non-Western minorities [1] but not the definite risk factors for CAP (among which are malnutrition, low birth weight and measles immunisation) typical in developing countries and which explain the higher incidence found in these countries [5]. The authors found that lower age is as an independent determinant of CAP in the paediatric population [1], but this practical aspect has probably not been stressed and discussed enough.

Results

Conclusion