Turyasiima Munanura, Kiconco Gloria, Egesa Walufu Ivan, Twesigemukama Sabinah, Nduwimana Martin
Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Kampala International University, Kampala, Uganda.
Department of Standards Compliance Accreditation and Patient Protection (SCAPP), Ministry of Health, Kampala, Uganda.
Pediatric Health Med Ther. 2024 Jan 20;15:49-57. doi: 10.2147/PHMT.S445908. eCollection 2024.
Acute respiratory tract infections are among the leading causes of child morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although the diagnosis of acute respiratory tract infections requires simple outpatient medical techniques and care, it is still misdiagnosed among primary care physicians, leading to delayed treatment and increased mortality. This study described the prevalence of common acute respiratory tract infections and simple techniques that effectively detect and diagnose children presenting with acute respiratory symptoms to primary healthcare physicians in remote settings.
This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the pediatric outpatient clinic of a tertiary hospital in western Uganda in April, May and June 2019. A total of 896 children aged 2-59 months attending the clinic were recruited consecutively into the study and examined for the presence of acute respiratory infection. Participants' sociodemographic and clinical data were collected through history taking and clinical examination using a validated Uganda Ministry of Health Uganda outpatient clinical checklist (FORM 5). The outcome variable was the presence of an acute upper or lower respiratory condition. Data was analyzed using STATA version 13.0 (StataCorp, College Station, USA) and summarized using descriptive statistics.
The overall period prevalence of acute respiratory tract infections among children aged 2 to 59 months was 36.9% (36,942 per 100,000 population). Upper respiratory tract infections with a prevalence of 24.8% were more common than lower respiratory tract infections. The most frequent upper respiratory tract infection in this setting was common cold (52%), followed by tonsillopharyngitis (10.7%), while pneumonia (26%) was the most frequent lower respiratory tract infection.
Acute respiratory tract infections contribute to the high burden of disease in pediatric outpatient clinics. Simple, affordable, and approved diagnostic clinical techniques that involve physical examination of the upper and lower respiratory systems can precisely diagnose acute respiratory tract infections in resource-limited settings where there is no access to sophisticated diagnostic equipment.
急性呼吸道感染是全球儿童发病和死亡的主要原因之一。尽管急性呼吸道感染的诊断需要简单的门诊医疗技术和护理，但在初级保健医生中仍存在误诊情况，导致治疗延误和死亡率上升。本研究描述了常见急性呼吸道感染的患病率以及能有效检测和诊断偏远地区基层医疗医生接诊的有急性呼吸道症状儿童的简单技术。
这项描述性横断面研究于2019年4月、5月和6月在乌干达西部一家三级医院的儿科门诊进行。连续招募了896名年龄在2至59个月的前来该诊所就诊的儿童纳入研究，并检查是否存在急性呼吸道感染。通过病史采集和使用经过验证的乌干达卫生部乌干达门诊临床检查表（表格5）进行临床检查，收集参与者的社会人口统计学和临床数据。结果变量为是否存在急性上呼吸道或下呼吸道疾病。使用STATA 13.0版软件（美国德克萨斯州大学站市StataCorp公司）对数据进行分析，并使用描述性统计进行总结。
2至59个月儿童急性呼吸道感染的总体期间患病率为36.9%（每10万人口中36942例）。上呼吸道感染患病率为24.8%，比下呼吸道感染更为常见。该环境中最常见的上呼吸道感染是普通感冒（52%），其次是扁桃体咽炎（10.7%），而肺炎（26%）是最常见的下呼吸道感染。
急性呼吸道感染导致儿科门诊的疾病负担沉重。在无法获得精密诊断设备的资源有限环境中，涉及上下呼吸道系统体格检查的简单、经济且经批准的诊断临床技术能够准确诊断急性呼吸道感染。
