Induced Sputum as a Diagnostic Tool in Pneumonia in Under Five Children—A Hospital-based Study

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this articlewas to study the success, tolerability of sputum induction and the bacterial isolates of induced sputum in children aged <5 years. METHODS: The cross-sectional study included 120 hospitalized children aged 1-59 months meeting WHO criteria for pneumonia. Sputum induction was performed using hypertonic (3%) saline. RESULTS: Mean age of the subjects was 19.5 months (2-59 months). Overall success of sputum induction was 53.3% and highest (64.28%) in 37-59 months age group. Adverse events such as tachypnea, hypoxemia (SpO2 <90) and vomiting were observed in 41.6, 17.5 and 15.8%, respectively. A potential pathogen was isolated in 45 (70.3%) of 64 cases with good quality sputum. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the commonest (38.2%) followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (14.8%) and others. CONCLUSION: Sputum induction in young children is safe and feasible in Indian settings. While the success was limited, bacterial yield was high.