Prevalence and associated factors of pneumonia among under-fives with acute respiratory symptoms: a cross sectional study at a Teaching Hospital in Bushenyi District, Western Uganda

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the prevalence and associated factors of pneumonia among children under-five years presenting with acute respiratory symptoms. METHODOLOGY: This was a cross sectional study at the Pediatric Department of Kampala International University – Teaching Hospital, from the month of April to August 2019. The study included 336 children aged 2 to 59 months presenting with acute respiratory symptoms to the pediatric clinic. Pneumonia diagnosis was made according to the World Health Organization definition, modified by a chest radiograph. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data on socio-demographic, environmental and nutrition factors and multivariate logistic regression analysis using STATA version 13.0 was done to assess for the factors independently associated with pneumonia. RESULTS: Of the 336 children with acute respiratory symptoms, eighty-six, 86 (25.6%) had pneumonia. Factors significantly associated with pneumonia included: age below 6 months (OR=3.2, 95%CI=1.17–8.51, p=0.023), rural residence (OR=5.7, 95%CI=2.97–11.05, p <0.001), not up-to-date for age immunization status (OR=2.9, 95%CI=1.05–7.98, p=0.039), severe acute malnutrition (OR=10.8, 95%CI=2.01–58.41, p=0.006), lack of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months (OR=2.9, 95%CI=1.53–5.53, p=0.001) and exposure to cigarette smoke (OR=3.0, 95%CI=1.35–6.80, p=0.007). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of pneumonia in children under-five years was high. Most of the factors associated with pneumonia are modifiable; addressing these factors could reduce this prevalence.