Epidemiology, microbiology, and treatment patterns of pediatric patients hospitalized with pneumonia at two hospitals in China: a patient chart review study

BACKGROUND: The etiology, epidemiology, treatment patterns, and clinical outcomes of neonatal and pediatric pneumonia patients in China are not well reported. This retrospective chart review study aimed to describe such information among neonatal (0 to 27 days) and pediatric (28 days to <18 years) pneumonia patients in two regions of China. METHODS: Electronic medical records of pneumonia hospitalizations (aged <18 years) admitted between 2008 and 2013 from four hospitals under Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine (Southern China) and between 2010 and 2014 at Peking University People’s Hospital (Beijing, Northern China) were reviewed. RESULTS: The average age of neonatal hospitalizations in Beijing (n=92) was 3.5 days. The mean length of hospital stay was 11.2 days, and no deaths occurred. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most common bacteria found in Beijing patients, whereas Mycoplasma pneumoniae was the most common bacteria found in Guangdong patients. The average age of pediatric hospitalizations was 3.3 (±3.1) and 6.5 (±5.6) years in Guangdong (n=3,046) and Beijing (n=222), respectively. The mean length of hospital stay was 17.4 and 5.8 days, and overall mortality rates were 0.2% and 0.5%. CONCLUSION: The findings revealed a low level of bacterial isolation and hence microbiological diagnoses. There was a low level of in-hospital mortality due to pneumonia, and the majority of hospitalizations were discharged from hospital, suggesting that current practice was generally effective. Neonatal hospitalizations were greater than pediatric hospitalizations in Beijing along with disparity in bacterial profile when compared with Guangdong, intending a need to improve neonatal pneumonia prophylaxis and selection of appropriate treatment.