Effects of socioeconomic status on presentation with acute lower respiratory tract disease in children in Salvador, Northeast Brazil

Two different socioeconomic groups of children with pneumonia were studied, and their clinical and demographic aspects were evaluated. The diagnosis of pneumonia was based on findings of cough and tachypnea, or on crackles on auscultation or on radiologically confirmed infiltrate. This was a prospective cross‐sectional study conducted at the Professor Hosannah de Oliveira Pediatric Center, which cares for children of lower socioeconomic status (PHOPC), and at one private hospital which cares for children from middle to high socioeconomic status (Aliança Hospital, AH). Demographics and clinical differences were assessed by the Pearson chi‐square test or Fisher's exact test as appropriate; means of continuous variables were compared by Mann‐Whitney U‐test. In a 26‐month period, 3,431 cases were recruited. The 2,476 cases identified at the PHOPC were younger than the 955 identified at AH (2.2 ± 2.3 vs. 4.5 ± 3.1 years, P < 0.0001) and had higher scores for severity (3.5 ± 1.5 vs. 2.7 ± 1.7, P < 0.0001), duration of hospitalization (days) (10.9 ± 12.1 vs. 6.2 ± 7, P < 0.0001), frequency of tobacco smoker in the household (48% vs. 31%, P < 0.0001), cardiopathy (15.3% vs. 5.9%, P = 0.003), fever (44.4% vs. 36.3%, P = 0.0001), tachypnea (67.6% vs. 32.3%, P < 0.0001), crackles (69.5% vs. 64.9%, P = 0.02), somnolence (19.9% vs. 10.4%, P < 0.0001), malnutrition (13.7% vs. 5%, P < 0.0001), hospitalization rate (27.4% vs. 22.5%, P = 0.003), and death (0.9% vs. 0.1%, P = 0.009). However, other features were more frequent among AH cases: parent's university level of education (38.2% vs. 1.0%, P < 0.0001), underlying chronic illness (40.6% vs. 28.5%, P < 0.0001), asthma (62.7% vs. 50.8%, P = 0.01), rhinitis (9.2% vs. 0.4%, P < 0.0001), previous use of antibiotics (34.3% vs. 27.1%, P = 0.001), and wheezing (53.1% vs. 42.2%, P < 0.0001). Children of lower socioeconomic status have more serious lower respiratory tract disease, whereas children with pneumonia of middle to high socioeconomic status have more allergic diseases (rhinitis, asthma) and wheezing. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2002; 33:244–248. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.