Community acquired pneumonia in children under 3 years of age: knowledge of maternal care

Abstract

Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a disease that occurs frequently and is considered a very serious infection in childhood, the objective of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological behavior of CAP in younger children. 3 years in the Pediatrics Area of ​​the Hospital Ambato IESS. Methodology: A retrospective and descriptive study was carried out in 113 children identified with CAP who attended the aforementioned hospital, in the period from August 2019 to March 2020. The selection of the sample was carried out through a consecutive purposive sampling. For the evaluation of the cases, the clinical data of the records records department of the health center were used. Results: According to the results obtained, it was evidenced that 54% corresponded to the female gender, 64% were between 2 and 3 years of age, 26% (n=29) of the CAPs had a bacterial origin, 25% (n=28) had a viral origin, the rest were not specified. In addition, 26% (n=29) had a common cold. 53% (n=60) had rural origin. The basic or primary educational level was the most common among parents (49%; n=55). Conclusions: the results show that CAP has a higher incidence in rural areas, with parents with a basic educational level and the bacterial etiology was slightly higher than the viral one, commonly associated with a common cold.