Severe Lower Respiratory Tract Infection in Early Infancy and
Pneumonia Hospitalizations among Children,Kenya |
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| Authors: | Patrick Kiio Munywoki Eric O Ohuma Mwanajuma Ngama Evasius Bauni J Anthony G Scott D James Nokes |
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| Institution: | Author affiliations: KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme Centre for Geographic Medicine Research–Coast, Kilifi, Kenya (P.K. Munywoki, E.O. Ohuma, M. Ngama, E. Bauni, J.A.G. Scott, D.J. Nokes); ;University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (E.O. Ohuma, J.A.G. Scott); ;University of Warwick, Coventry, UK (D.J. Nokes) |
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| Abstract: | Severe lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in infants caused by respiratory
syncytial virus (RSV) has been associated with later pneumonia hospitalization
among children. To determine risk for pneumonia after RSV hospitalization in
infancy, we conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of 2,813 infants admitted
to a hospital in Kenya and identified readmissions for pneumonia among this
group during early childhood (<60 months of age).
Incidence of readmission for pneumonia was higher for children whose first
admission as infants was for LRTI and who were <3
months of age than for children who were first admitted as infants for non-LRTI,
irrespective of RSV status. Incidence of readmission for pneumonia with wheeze
was higher for children whose first admission involved RSV compared with those
who had non-RSV LRTI. Excess pneumonia risk persisted for 2 years after the
initial hospitalization. Close postdischarge follow-up of infants with LRTI,
with or without RSV, could help prevent severe pneumonia later in childhood. |
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| Keywords: | respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract infection pneumonia infancy childhood wheeze postdischarge respiratory infections hospitalization viruses Kenya |
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