Comparison of Treatment Outcomes in Childhood Pneumonia with or without Rickets

Abstract

Objective: To compare the treatment outcomes among children with pneumonia with or without rickets presentation.

Methodology: This comparative study was conducted on 190 children diagnosed with pneumonia, who were divided into two equal groups: 95 children with rickets and 95 without rickets. Study was done at Department of Pediatric Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital Muzaffargarh. The rickets was diagnosed based on clinical features and radiological and biochemical findings. Patients received standard pneumonia management according to institutional guidelines. Treatment outcomes were assessed in terms of duration of fever, need for oxygen therapy, length of hospital stay, and treatment failure, across the groups. Data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tests, and a p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Paediatric patients with rickets showed a significantly longer duration of fever (p=0.001) and prolonged stay in Hospital stay p=0.001 compared to non-rickets patients. Failure of treatment was more frequent in the rickets group (22.1 % vs 9.5 %) p = 0.018. The severe pneumonia and oxygen requirement were significantly higher in children with rickets in contrast to non-rickets patients (31.6 % vs 15.8 %) and (48.4 % vs 27.4 %), p= 0.004 respectively. Average clinical recovery time was also significantly delayed in children with rickets. Additionally, the rate of complications also being significantly higher among children with rickets, while the mortality rate was low and almost similar across the p=0.05).

Conclusion: The childhood pneumonia with rickets was observed with significantly poor treatment outcomes, and these patients required more intensive supportive care and showed delayed recovery compared to those without rickets.