Trends in the global burden of paediatric lower respiratory infections

Abstract

As the leading cause of infectious deaths in children, 1 Liu L Oza S Hogan D et al. Global, regional, and national causes of under-5 mortality in 2000–15: an updated systematic analysis with implications for the Sustainable Development Goals. Lancet. 2016; 388: 3027-3035 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1723) Google Scholar reducing lower respiratory infections (LRIs) will be the key to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.2. However, of the biggest infectious killers, LRI remains the condition with the least funding on a global level. 2 Brown R Head M Sizing up pneumonia research: assessing global investments in pneumonia research 2000–2015. University of Southampton, Southampton2018 Google Scholar In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the GBD 2017 Lower Respiratory Infections Collaborators 3 GBD 2017 Lower Respiratory Infections CollaboratorsQuantifying risks and interventions that have affected the burden of lower respiratory infections among children younger than 5 years: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet Infect Dis. 2019; (published online Oct 30)https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(19)30410-4 Google Scholar present modelled trends in LRI incident cases and mortality and estimate the role of 13 modifiable protective and preventive risk factors in these spatiotemporal changes using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) dataset. Quantifying risks and interventions that have affected the burden of lower respiratory infections among children younger than 5 years: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017Our findings show that there have been substantial but uneven declines in LRI mortality among countries between 1990 and 2017. Although improvements in indicators of sociodemographic development could explain some of these trends, changes in exposure to modifiable risk factors are related to the rates of decline in LRI mortality. No single intervention would universally accelerate reductions in health loss associated with LRIs in all settings, but emphasising the most dominant risk factors, particularly in countries with high case fatality, can contribute to the reduction of preventable deaths. Full-Text PDF Open Access