Factors associated with severe childhood community-acquired pneumonia: a retrospective study from two hospitals

Abstract Background Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the leading cause of death in children globally. Indonesia is ranked 1st in South East Asia with the highest burden of pneumonia. Identification of risk factors is necessary for early intervention and better management. This study intended to describe CAP’s clinical signs and laboratory findings and explore the risk factors of severe CAP among children in Indonesia. Methods This was a retrospective study of childhood hospitalizations in Siloam General Hospitals and Siloam Hospitals Lippo Village from December 2015 to December 2019. Demographic data, clinical signs, and laboratory findings were collected and processed using IBM SPSS 26.0. Results This study included 217 participants with 66 (30.4%) severe pneumonia cases. Multivariate analysis shows that fever that lasts more than 7 days (OR adj = 4.95; 95%CI 1.61–15.21, P adj = 0.005) and increase in respiratory rate (OR adj = 1.05, 95%CI 1.01–1.08, P adj = 0.009) are two predictors of severe pneumonia. Meanwhile, a normal hematocrit level (OR adj = 0.9; 95%CI 0.83–0.98, P adj = 0.011) and children with normal BMI (OR adj = 0.7; 95%CI 0.57–0.84, P adj 7 days and tachypnea were at higher risk for progressing to severe pneumonia. A normal hematocrit level and a normal BMI are protective factors for severe pneumonia.