November 12 — World Pneumonia Day

Pneumonia is one of the most dangerous and severe diseases affecting lung tissue and characterized by a fairly high mortality rate. Recently, there has been a tendency towards a more severe course of pneumonia, which is associated with the development of high resistance to antibiotic therapy. Pneumonia poses the greatest danger to young children; every year around the world, about a million babies under the age of 5 die from this disease, which is 15 % of the total mortality of children at this age. Due to the high relevance of the issue, the Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia initiated the allocation of a special day of the year to draw attention to this issue of government officials and health care professionals; and as a result, it was decided to celebrate the day of the fight against pneumonia on November 12 every year. On this day, medical institutions around the world organize preventive events and conduct medical examinations, round tables and thematic seminars are held, the purpose of which is to exchange practical experience in combating this dangerous ailment.

Lung Ultrasound Is More Sensitive for Hospitalized Consolidated Pneumonia Diagnosis Compared to CXR in Children

Background: Pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children; thus, a correct early diagnosis would be ideal. The imagistic diagnosis still uses chest X-ray (CXR), but lung ultrasound (LUS) proves to be reliable for pneumonia diagnosis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of LUS compared to CXR in consolidated pneumonia. Methods: Children with clinical suspicion of bacterial pneumonia were screened by LUS for pneumonia, followed by CXR. The agreement relation between LUS and CXR regarding the detection of consolidation was evaluated by Cohen’s kappa test. Results: A total of 128 patients with clinical suspicion of pneumonia were evaluated; 74 of them were confirmed by imagery and biological inflammatory markers. The highest frequency of pneumonia was in the 0–3 years age group (37.83%). Statistical estimation of the agreement between LUS and CXR in detection of the consolidation found an almost perfect agreement, with a Cohen’s kappa coefficient of K = 0.89 ± 0.04 SD, p = 0.000. Sensitivity of LUS was superior to CXR in detection of consolidations. Conclusion: Lung ultrasound is a reliable method for the detection of pneumonia consolidation in hospitalized children, with sensitivity and specificity superior to CXR. LUS should be used for rapid and safe evaluation of child pneumonia.

Ethnic disparity in pneumonia-specific mortality among children under 5 years of age in Sichuan Province of Western China from 2010 to 2017

Background: To reveal the ethnic disparity in the pneumonia-specific mortality rates of children under the age of five years(PU5MRs) and provide suggestions regarding priority interventions to reduce preventable under-five-years-of-age deaths. Methods: Data were obtained from the Direct Report System of Maternal and Child Health in Sichuan. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to assess the time trend. The Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test and Chi-square test were used to examine the differences in the PU5MRs among different groups. Results: The PU5MRs in the minority and nonminority counties decreased by 53.7% and 42.3% from 2010 to 2017, respectively. The PU5MRs of the minority counties were 4.81 times higher than those of the nonminority counties in 2017. The proportion of pneumonia deaths to total deaths in Sichuan Province increased from 11.7% in 2010 to 15.5% in 2017. The pneumonia-specific mortality rates of children in the categories of 0-28 days, 29days-11 months, and 12-59 months were reduced by 55.1%, 38.8%, and 65.5%, respectively, in the minority counties and by 35.5%, 43.1%, and 43.7%, respectively, in the nonminority counties. Conclusions: PU5MRs declined in Sichuan, especially in the minority counties, while ethnic disparity still exists. Although the PU5MRs decreased more for the minority counties as a fraction of all mortality the absolute number of such deaths were higher, and therefore more children in these counties continue to die from pneumonia than from the non-minority counties. Priority should be given to strategies for preventing and controlling child pneumonia, especially for postneonates, in the minority counties.

Ethnic disparity in pneumonia-specific mortality among children under 5 years of age in Sichuan Province of Western China from 2010 to 2017

Background To reveal the ethnic disparity in the pneumonia-specific mortality rates of children under the age of 5 years (PU5MRs) and provide suggestions regarding priority interventions to reduce preventable under-five-years-of-age deaths. Methods Data were obtained from the Direct Report System of Maternal and Child Health in Sichuan. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to assess the time trend. The Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test and Chi-square test were used to examine the differences in the PU5MRs among different groups. Results The PU5MRs in the minority and nonminority counties decreased by 53.7 and 42.3% from 2010 to 2017, respectively. The PU5MRs of the minority counties were 4.81 times higher than those of the nonminority counties in 2017. The proportion of pneumonia deaths to total deaths in Sichuan Province increased from 11.7% in 2010 to 15.5% in 2017. The pneumonia-specific mortality rates of children in the categories of 0–28 days, 29 days-11 months, and 12–59 months were reduced by 55.1, 38.8, and 65.5%, respectively, in the minority counties and by 35.5, 43.1, and 43.7%, respectively, in the nonminority counties. Conclusions PU5MRs declined in Sichuan, especially in the minority counties, while ethnic disparity still exists. Although the PU5MRs decreased more for the minority counties as a fraction of all mortality, the absolute number of such deaths were higher, and therefore more children in these counties continue to die from pneumonia than from the non-minority counties. Priority should be given to strategies for preventing and controlling child pneumonia, especially for postneonates, in the minority counties.

Ethnic disparity in pneumonia-specific mortality among children under 5 years of age in Sichuan Province of Western China from 2010 to 2017

Bacground:To reveal the ethnic disparity in the pneumonia-specific mortality rates of children under the age of five years(PU5MRs) and provide suggestions regarding priority interventions to reduce preventable under-five-years-of-age deaths. Methods: Data were obtained from the Direct Report System of Maternal and Child Health in Sichuan. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to assess the time trend. The Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test and Chi-square test were used to examine the differences in the PU5MRs among different groups. Results: The PU5MRs in the minority and nonminority counties decreased by 53.73% and 42.34% from 2010 to 2017, respectively. The PU5MRs of the minority counties were 4.81 times higher than those of the nonminority counties in 2017. The proportion of pneumonia deaths to total deaths in Sichuan Province increased from 11.65% in 2010 to 15.47% in 2017. The pneumonia-specific mortality rates of children in the categories of 0-28 days, 29days-11 months, and 12-59 months were reduced by 55.13%, 38.76%, and 65.55%, respectively, in the minority counties and by 35.49%, 43.08%, and 43.74%, respectively, in the nonminority counties. Conclusions: PU5MRs declined in Sichuan, especially in the minority counties, while ethnic disparity still exists. Priority should be given to strategies for preventing and controlling child pneumonia, especially for postneonates, in the minority counties.