Department of Paediatrics, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria.
BMC Pulm Med. 2014 Jun 10;14:101. doi: 10.1186/1471-2466-14-101.
Respiratory diseases are one of the causes of childhood morbidity and mortality as well as hospitalization globally. The patterns of different respiratory illnesses in several parts of the world have been reported but there are few on the combined burden of the diseases. Determination of the burden of respiratory diseases as a group will help ascertain their collective impact on the health systems in order to develop intervention measures.
Data from case notes of children with respiratory diseases admitted to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, Nigeria over a six year period were extracted. Age, gender, admission rates, types of respiratory illness, duration of admission, season of presentation and outcome were analysed. Descriptive and inferential (Chi square) statistics were used to describe the various disease types and ascertain association of the disease outcome, seasonal pattern with the types of diseases.
Of the total of 8974 children admissions, 2214 (24.7%) were due to respiratory diseases. The mean age of all the children with respiratory diseases was 3.3 years (SD 3.9). Communicable diseases were the common cause of admission cases throughout the seasons, p < 0.001. The highest admission rates were for pneumonia, (34.0%), acute bronchial asthma, (27.7%) and rhinosinusitis (14.6%) p < 0.001. The frequency of respiratory disease decreases with age and children less than five years of age and of low socio-economic status were commonly affected, p=0.01. The median duration of hospital stay was two days [range 1 to 8 days], children less than five years old and those of low socio-economic status, spent more than four days (p=0.01 and p < 0.001 respectively). The all-cause mortality was 0.5% (11/2214) of which 81.8% (9/11) was due to pneumonia.
Respiratory diseases constitute a significant burden of childhood illnesses in our centre. Efforts are required to reduce the impact as part of the steps towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
呼吸道疾病是导致全球儿童发病率和死亡率以及住院的原因之一。世界上不同地区的呼吸道疾病模式已经有报道，但对这些疾病的综合负担却知之甚少。确定呼吸道疾病作为一个整体的负担将有助于确定它们对卫生系统的集体影响，以便制定干预措施。
从尼日利亚恩古大学教学医院（University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu）过去六年中患有呼吸道疾病的儿童病历中提取数据。分析年龄、性别、入院率、呼吸道疾病类型、住院时间、发病季节和结果。采用描述性和推断性（卡方）统计方法描述各种疾病类型，并确定疾病结果和季节性模式与疾病类型的相关性。
在总共 8974 名儿童入院中，2214 名（24.7%）是由于呼吸道疾病。所有患有呼吸道疾病的儿童的平均年龄为 3.3 岁（标准差 3.9）。整个季节，传染病都是导致入院的常见原因，p<0.001。发病率最高的是肺炎（34.0%）、急性支气管哮喘（27.7%）和鼻-鼻窦炎（14.6%），p<0.001。呼吸道疾病的发病率随着年龄的增长而降低，五岁以下和社会经济地位较低的儿童更容易受到影响，p=0.01。住院时间中位数为两天[范围 1 至 8 天]，五岁以下和社会经济地位较低的儿童住院时间超过四天，p=0.01 和 p<0.001。总死亡率为 0.5%（11/2214），其中 81.8%（9/11）是由于肺炎。
呼吸道疾病是我们中心儿童疾病的重要负担。需要努力减少其影响，作为实现千年发展目标的步骤之一。
