Main objective: To determine the incidence of child pneumonia in our health district.
Secondary objectives: to establish its clinical and epidemiological characteristics, to establish the percentage resolution of the illness within primary care (PC), to describe the treatments given, and to compare admission rates according to whether the first consultation was in PC or hospital casualty.
Design: A retrospective, longitudinal, descriptive study.
Setting: Primary care.
Participants: 63 episodes diagnosed between 30-8-96 and 1-9-97 in 1604 children under 15.
Measurements: Statistical measurements included: 95% confidence intervals, the ji squared test, Fisher's exact test.
Results: Incidence was 3.9% (CI: 3-4.9%); female predominance, 53.3% (CI: 40.7-66%); seasonal predominance, autumn-winter 64.5% (CI: 52.6-76.4%). The most common signs were: high temperature, 93.3% (CI: 87-99.6%); cough, 66.1% (CI: 54-78.2%). 90.5% (CI: 83.2-97.7%) of pneumonia cases treated in PC evolved satisfactorily. 9.5% (CI: 2.3-16.8%) needed hospital admission. Patients who attended hospital on their own initiative went into hospital more often than those who attended the PC paediatrics clinic as their first option (p = 0.002).
Conclusions: The incidence of pneumonia among children is lower than in other countries. The majority are treated and resolved properly in PC. Analytic studies are needed to determine whether first attending a hospital casualty department instead of a PC paediatric clinic involves a greater risk of hospital admission.