Predisposing Factors of Community Acquired Pneumonia in Under-Five Children

Objective: Pneumonia is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in under five children in developing countries.Hence, the present study was undertaken to identify the various predisposing factors for pneumonia in children aged 1 month to 5 years.Methods: Sixty pneumonia cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria, in the age group of 1 month to 5 years were interrogated for potential predisposing factors as per a predesigned proforma.Sixty healthy control children in the same age group were also interrogated.Results: The significant predisposing factors for pneumonia were overcrowding (p value < 0.001), lack of exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months in babies less than 1 year old (p value < 0.05), incomplete immunization for age (p value < 0.001) and malnutrition (p value < 0.001).On logistic regression analysis, overcrowding and malnutrition were significant independent risk factors. Conclusion:The present study has identified many demographic, nutritional and environmental pre-disposing factors for pneumonia which can be tackled by effective health education of the community and appropriate initiatives taken by the government.