Abstract
There is a current body of knowledge linking various risk factors with the frequency of pneumonia and a fatal outcome. Despite this, there is a dearth of published data assessing the association between these risk factors of pneumonia and the occurrence of hypoxaemia. Thus, the current study was carried out to determine the relationship between the risk factors of pneumonia and hypoxaemia in hospitalised under-5 children at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
This is a descriptive study involving 200 children aged between 2 months and 5 years with pneumonia. Socio-demographic, anthropometric, clinical, and laboratory data were obtained. The pulse oximetry measurement was recorded after a stable reading for at least 1 minute while the child was breathing room air. Hypoxaemia was defined as an arterial oxygen saturation of less than 90%. Data were analysed using the SPSS 20.0 software package.
There were 119 males and 81 females. Bronchopneumonia was identified in 168 (84.0%) of the children while lobar pneumonia was diagnosed in 32 (16.0%) children. After a multivariate logistic regression, low social status of the child was significantly associated with hypoxaemia, p=0.023. There was a negative correlation between the socio-economic status of the child, maternal age (years), maternal literacy level, birth order of the child, and of immunisation status with the presence of hypoxaemia (r= -0.191, -0.151, -0.162, -0.154, -0.148; p=0.007, 0.032, 0.022, 0.030, and 0.036, respectively). The study concluded that socio-economic class of the child was a risk factor of pneumonia associated with the presence of hypoxaemia.