frequency and mortality of pneumonia in pediatric wards

introduction: pneumonia is an inflammation of the parenchyma of the lungs. most cases of pneumonia are caused by microorganisms, but there are several non-infectious causes accordingly. pneumonia is a considerable cause of mortality in childhood, throughout the world, particularly in developing countries. this study, according to this important matter, evaluated & inspected all of the patients with diagnosis of pneumonia who were bedridden in razi hospital in kermanshah. materials and methods: all of the patients with diagnosis of pneumonia, who were admitted in pediatric wards of razi hospital in kermanshah in 2008, were 107 cases that were chosen on the base of cdc criteria. then the data were collected from medical records including age, sex, underlying diseases (cardiac, deficiency of immunity, ge reflux, and disturbance of gag reflex) duration of bedridden, a need to be bedridden in icu and a need for ventilation. collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. results: proportional frequency of pneumonia was 6.39%, frequency of pneumonia in males was 60.74% and in females 39.25%. mortality rate was 60% in males and 40% in females. the common season of pneumonia was 35.51% in winter, and the most common mortality rate was 46.66% in autumn. pneumonia in underlying diseases was 36.44%, mortality rate in this group was 66.6% and the most common age of mortality was under one year old 66.6%, the need for icu was 29.9% and the need for ventilation was 15.88%. the most common ordered antibiotics were ceftriaxine 50.46% & chloramephenicol  0.93% repectively. conclusion: in this study remarkable numbers of patients who were admitted to the hospital due to pneumonia had at least one underlying disease, but mortality due to pneumonia was the most common rate in this group particularly in cardiac underlying diseases. for this reason prophylaxis of pneumonia especially in patients with underlying diseases and usage of vaccination in this group is highly recommended