Fatal Community-Acquired Pneumonia: 18 Years in a Medical Center

BackgroundCommunity-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a significant cause of childhood morbidity worldwide. We analyzed the etiologies and the clinical characteristics of children who died from CAP. This study aimed at early identification of the poor prognostic factors in order to improve the efficiency of pneumonia management and prevent deaths.MethodsA retrospective chart review was performed for children younger than 18 years admitted to Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital between September 1992 and August 2010 with a diagnosis of pneumonia on admission. Twenty-one patients who died with the diagnosis of pneumonia and its complications were included in the study, along with 63 age- and year-matched survival controls.ResultsTwelve patients (57.1%) were younger than 2 years. Gram-negative bacteria (7 patients) were the most frequently identified pathogen, followed by Mycoplasma pneumoniae (6 patients). Four of these six M. pneumoniae infected patients were co-infected with other pathogens. Among the clinical characteristics, fatal CAP was associated mainly with initial presentations of anemia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, bandemia, hyponatremia, sepsis, meningitis, metabolic acidosis, disseminated intravenous coagulopathy, and underlying congenital diseases. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, metabolic acidosis (odds ratio = 8.50; 95% confidence interval = 2.82–25.60; p < 0.001) was a prognostic risk factor for fatality.ConclusionFor patients with CAP, blood gas should be included in the routine blood test on admission. Once the initial blood test associated with the aforementioned poor prognostic factors has been identified, an immediate treatment including Gram-negative bacilli antibiotics should be started aggressively in order to prevent deaths.