RNA viruses in community-acquired childhood pneumonia in semi-urban Nepal; a cross-sectional study

Table 1 Background and clinical characteristics of 2,219 cases of community-acquired pneumonia diagnosed over a 3-year period in Bhaktapur, Nepal

Characteristic	n	Value
Demographic
Age in months	2,219
Mean (SD)		13.4 (8.3)
2 to 11 months (%)		1,016 (45.8)
12 to 35 months (%)		1,203 (54.2)
Breastfeeding (%)	2,218	1,945 (87.7)
Boys (%)	2,219	1,263 (56.9)
Mean birth weight in grams (SD)^a	1,585	2,856 (464)
Hospital delivery (%)	2,216	1,718 (77.5)
Illiterate (%)^b
Mother	2,212	578 (26.1)
Father	2,209	116 (5.3)
Father's occupation (%)	2,216
Agriculture		240 (10.8)
Daily wage earner		1,078 (48.6)
No work		43 (1.9)
Mother's occupation (%)	2,216
Agriculture		222 (10.0)
Daily wage earner		361 (16.3)
No work outside home		1,472 (66.4)
Symptoms and signs at presentation
Median number of days with cough at presentation (IQR)	2,219	3 (2 to 4)
Runny nose according to caregiver (%)	1,882	1,632 (86.7)
Mean respiratory rate in breaths/min (SD)
2 to 11 months	1,016	58 (5.4)
12 to 35 months	1,203	49 (6.5)
Axillary temperature (%)	2,218
≥ 37.5°C		908 (40.9)
≥ 38.5°C		293 (13.2)
Wheezing (%)^c	2,219	994 (44.8)
Crepitations (%)	2,219	651 (29.3)
Lower chest indrawing (%)	2,219	131 (5.9)
Oxygen saturation (%)	2,219
<93%		670 (30.2)
<90%		42 (1.9)
Median CRP in mg/L (IQR)	2,215	15 (<8, 28)
Mean hemoglobin in g/dl (SD)	2,218	11.1 (1.2)
Anthropometric
Mean weight for length Z-score (SD)	2,212	-0.26 (1.0)
Mean length for age Z-score (SD)		-1.1 (1.2)
Length for age <-2Z-scores (stunted) (%)^d		526 (23.8)
Weight for length <-2Z-scores (wasted) (%)^d		82 (3.7)

^aWritten documentation from 1,273 birth certificates, remaining 312 from mother's recall;^bdefined as no schooling/not able to read and write;^cwheezing prior to administration of nebulized salbutamol; ^dthe WHO Child Growth Standards 2006 [23].
CRP = C-reactive protein; IQR = inter-quartile range; SD = standard deviation.

ISSN: 1741-7015