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A literature review and survey of childhood pneumonia etiology studies: 2000-2010.

ABSTRACT: The Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) project is the largest multicountry etiology study of childhood pneumonia since the Board on Science and Technology in International Development studies of the 1980s. However, it is not the only recent or ongoing pneumonia etiology study, and even with seven sites, it cannot capture all epidemiologic settings in the developing world. Funding providers, researchers and policymakers rely on the best available evidence to strategically plan programs, new research directions and interventions. We aimed to describe the current landscape of recent pneumonia etiology studies in children under 5 years of age in the developed and developing world, as ascertained by a literature review of relevant studies with data since the year 2000 and a survey of researchers in the field of childhood pneumonia. We collected information on the study population, study design, case definitions, laboratory samples and methods and identified pathogens. A literature review identified 88 studies with child pneumonia etiology results. As of June 2010, our survey of researchers identified an additional 65 ongoing and recently completed child pneumonia etiology studies. This demonstrates the broad existing context into which the PERCH study must be placed. However, the landscape analysis also reveals a multiplicity of case definitions, levels of clinician involvement, facility types, specimen collection, and laboratory techniques. It reinforces the need for the standardization of methods and analyses for present and future pneumonia etiology studies in order to optimize their cumulative potential to accurately describe the microbial causes of childhood pneumonia.

SUBMITTER: Gilani Z

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3693495 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundPneumonia remains the leading cause of death in young children globally. The changing epidemiology of pneumonia requires up-to-date data to guide both case management and prevention programs. The Gambia study site contributed a high child mortality, high pneumonia incidence, low HIV prevalence, Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines-vaccinated rural West African setting to the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) Study.MethodsThe PERCH study was a 7-country case-control study of the etiology of hospitalized severe pneumonia in children 1-59 months of age in low and middle-income countries. Culture and nucleic acid detection methods were used to test nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs, blood, induced sputum and, in selected cases, lung or pleural fluid aspirates. Etiology was determined by integrating case and control data from multiple specimens using the PERCH integrated analysis based on Bayesian probabilistic methods.ResultsAt The Gambia study site, 638 cases of World Health Organization-defined severe and very severe pneumonia (286 of which were chest radiograph [CXR]-positive and HIV-negative) and 654 age-frequency matched controls were enrolled. Viral causes predominated overall (viral 58% vs. bacterial 28%), and of CXR-positive cases respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) accounted for 37%, Streptococcus pneumoniae 13% and parainfluenza was responsible for 9%. Nevertheless, among very severe cases bacterial causes dominated (77% bacterial vs. 11% viral), led by S. pneumoniae (41%); Mycobacterium tuberculosis, not included in "bacterial", accounted for 9%. 93% and 80% of controls ≥1 year of age were, respectively, fully vaccinated for age against Haemophilus influenzae and S. pneumoniae.ConclusionsViral causes, notably RSV, predominated in The Gambia overall, but bacterial causes dominated the severest cases. Efforts must continue to prevent disease by optimizing access to existing vaccines, and to develop new vaccines, notably against RSV. A continued emphasis on appropriate case management of severe pneumonia remains important.

Project description:BackgroundThe recent series of reviews conducted within the Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) addressed epidemiology of the two deadly diseases at the global and regional level; it also estimated the effectiveness of interventions, barriers to achieving high coverage and the main implications for health policy. The aim of this paper is to provide the estimates of childhood pneumonia at the country level. This should allow national policy-makers and stakeholders to implement proposed policies in the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF member countries.MethodsWE CONDUCTED A SERIES OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS TO UPDATE PREVIOUS ESTIMATES OF THE GLOBAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL BURDEN OF CHILDHOOD PNEUMONIA INCIDENCE, SEVERE MORBIDITY, MORTALITY, RISK FACTORS AND SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE MOST COMMON PATHOGENS: Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP), Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus (flu). We distributed the global and regional-level estimates of the number of cases, severe cases and deaths from childhood pneumonia in 2010-2011 by specific countries using an epidemiological model. The model was based on the prevalence of the five main risk factors for childhood pneumonia within countries (malnutrition, low birth weight, non-exclusive breastfeeding in the first four months, solid fuel use and crowding) and risk effect sizes estimated using meta-analysis.FindingsThe incidence of community-acquired childhood pneumonia in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) in the year 2010, using World Health Organization's definition, was about 0.22 (interquartile range (IQR) 0.11-0.51) episodes per child-year (e/cy), with 11.5% (IQR 8.0-33.0%) of cases progressing to severe episodes. This is a reduction of nearly 25% over the past decade, which is consistent with observed reductions in the prevalence of risk factors for pneumonia throughout LMIC. At the level of pneumonia incidence, RSV is the most common pathogen, present in about 29% of all episodes, followed by influenza (17%). The contribution of different pathogens varies by pneumonia severity strata, with viral etiologies becoming relatively less important and most deaths in 2010 caused by the main bacterial agents - SP (33%) and Hib (16%), accounting for vaccine use against these two pathogens.ConclusionsIn comparison to 2000, the primary epidemiological evidence contributing to the models of childhood pneumonia burden has improved only slightly; all estimates have wide uncertainty bounds. Still, there is evidence of a decreasing trend for all measures of the burden over the period 2000-2010. The estimates of pneumonia incidence, severe morbidity, mortality and etiology, although each derived from different and independent data, are internally consistent - lending credibility to the new set of estimates. Pneumonia continues to be the leading cause of both morbidity and mortality for young children beyond the neonatal period and requires ongoing strategies and progress to reduce the burden further.

Project description:IntroductionThe last few years have witnessed rapid scaling-up of key malaria interventions in several African countries following increases in development assistance. However, there is only limited country-specific information on the health impact of expanded coverage of these interventions.MethodsPaediatric admission data were assembled from 4 hospitals in Malawi reflecting different malaria ecologies. Trends in monthly clinical malaria admissions between January 2000 and December 2010 were analysed using time-series models controlling for covariates related to climate and service use to establish whether changes in admissions can be related to expanded coverage of interventions aimed at reducing malaria infection.ResultsIn 3 of 4 sites there was an increase in clinical malaria admission rates. Results from time series models indicate a significant month-to-month increase in the mean clinical malaria admission rates at two hospitals (trend P<0.05). At these hospitals clinical malaria admissions had increased from 2000 by 41% to 100%. Comparison of changes in malaria risk and ITN coverage appear to correspond to a lack of disease declines over the period. Changes in intervention coverage within hospital catchments showed minimal increases in ITN coverage from <6% across all sites in 2000 to maximum of 33% at one hospital site by 2010. Additionally, malaria transmission intensity remained unchanged between 2000-2010 across all sites.DiscussionDespite modest increases in coverage of measures to reduce infection there has been minimal changes in paediatric clinical malaria cases in four hospitals in Malawi. Studies across Africa are increasingly showing a mixed set of impact results and it is important to assemble more data from more sites to understand the wider implications of malaria funding investment. We also caution that impact surveillance should continue in areas where intervention coverage is increasing with time, for example Malawi, as decline may become evident within a period when coverage reaches optimal levels.

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A literature review and survey of childhood pneumonia etiology studies: 2000-2010.

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