Malawian children with chest-indrawing pneumonia with and without comorbidities or danger signs.
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ABSTRACT: Background
Children with comorbidities or danger signs are often excluded from trials evaluating pneumonia treatment.Methods
We sought to investigate whether the percentage of children with chest-indrawing pneumonia cured at Day 14 was lower among those with HIV infection or exposure, malaria, moderate or severe acute malnutrition, or anemia enrolled in a prospective observational cohort study than among children without these comorbidities enrolled in a concurrent prospective randomized controlled trial evaluating duration of amoxicillin treatment in Lilongwe, Malawi.Results
Children with chest-indrawing pneumonia and comorbidities but without danger signs did not have statistically significant higher treatment failure rates by Day 6 than those in the chest-indrawing pneumonia clinical trial. However, children with chest-indrawing pneumonia and HIV infection or exposure, malaria, or moderate or severe acute malnutrition had higher rates of not being clinically cured at Day 14 when compared to children without these comorbidities (adjusted differences ranging from 7.7% to 17.0%). Furthermore, among children without danger signs at enrollment, but with HIV infection or HIV exposure or moderate or severe acute malnutrition, 12.5% and 15.6% respectively were not clinically cured at Day 14 even though they were without treatment failure by Day 6.Conclusions
More intensive follow-up of children with chest-indrawing pneumonia and comorbidities who do not have danger signs may be beneficial.
SUBMITTER: Ginsburg AS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7979154 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Evidence regarding the appropriate duration of treatment with antibiotic agents in children with pneumonia in low-resource settings in Africa is lacking. METHODS:We conducted a double-blind, randomized, controlled, noninferiority trial in Lilongwe, Malawi, to determine whether treatment with amoxicillin for 3 days is less effective than treatment for 5 days in children with chest-indrawing pneumonia (cough lasting <14 days or difficulty breathing, along with visible indrawing of the chest wall with or without fast breathing for age). Children not infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who were 2 to 59 months of age and had chest-indrawing pneumonia were randomly assigned to receive amoxicillin twice daily for either 3 days or 5 days. Children were followed for 14 days. The primary outcome was treatment failure by day 6; noninferiority of the 3-day regimen to the 5-day regimen would be shown if the percentage of children with treatment failure in the 3-day group was no more than 1.5 times that in the 5-day group. Prespecified secondary analyses included assessment of treatment failure or relapse by day 14. RESULTS:From March 29, 2016, to April 1, 2019, a total of 3000 children underwent randomization: 1497 children were assigned to the 3-day group, and 1503 to the 5-day group. Among children with day 6 data available, treatment failure had occurred in 5.9% in the 3-day group (85 of 1442 children) and in 5.2% (75 of 1456) in the 5-day group (adjusted difference, 0.7 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.9 to 2.4) - a result that satisfied the criterion for noninferiority of the 3-day regimen to the 5-day regimen. Among children with day 14 data available, 176 of 1411 children (12.5%) in the 3-day group and 154 of 1429 (10.8%) in the 5-day group had had treatment failure by day 6 or relapse by day 14 (between-group difference, 1.7 percentage points; 95% CI, -0.7 to 4.1). The percentage of children with serious adverse events was similar in the two groups (9.8% in the 3-day group and 8.8% in the 5-day group). CONCLUSIONS:In HIV-uninfected Malawian children, treatment with amoxicillin for chest-indrawing pneumonia for 3 days was noninferior to treatment for 5 days. (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02678195.).
| S-EPMC7233470 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDue to high risk of mortality, children with comorbidities are typically excluded from trials evaluating pneumonia treatment. Understanding heterogeneity of outcomes among children with pneumonia and comorbidities is critical to ensuring appropriate treatment.MethodsWe explored whether the percentage of children with fast-breathing pneumonia cured at Day 14 was lower among those with selected comorbidities enrolled in a prospective observational study than among those enrolled in a concurrent randomized controlled trial evaluating treatment with amoxicillin in Lilongwe, Malawi.ResultsAmong 79 children with fast-breathing pneumonia in the prospective observational cohort, 57 (72.2%) had HIV infection/exposure, 20 (25.3%) had malaria, 2 (2.5%) had severe acute malnutrition, and 17 (21.5%) had anemia. Treatment failure rate was slightly (not significantly) lower in children with comorbidities (4.1%, 3/73) compared to those without comorbidities (4.5%, 25/552) similarly treated. There was no significant difference in clinical cure rates by Day 14 (95.8% with vs 96.7% without comorbidity).ConclusionsChildren with fast-breathing pneumonia excluded from a concurrent clinical trial due to comorbidities did not fare worse. Children at higher risk whose caregivers seek care early and who receive appropriate risk assessment (e.g., pulse oximetry, hemoglobin, HIV/malaria testing) and treatment, can achieve clinical cure by Day 14.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02960919 ; registered November 8, 2016.
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Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC7992029 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although pneumonia is the leading cause of child mortality worldwide, little is known about the quality of routine pneumonia care in high burden settings like Malawi that utilize World Health Organization's Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) guidelines. Due to severe human resource constraints, the majority of clinical care in Malawi is delivered by non-physician clinicians called Clinical Officers (COs).To assess the quality of child pneumonia care delivered by Malawian COs in routine care conditions.At an outpatient district-level clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi, 10 COs caring for 695 children who presented with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing were compared to IMCI pneumonia diagnostic and treatment guidelines.Fewer than 1% of patients received an evaluation by COs that included all 16 elements of the history and physical examination. The respiratory rate was only determined in 16.1% of patients presenting with cough or difficulty breathing. Of the 274 children with IMCI-defined pneumonia, COs correctly diagnosed 30%, and administered correct pneumonia care in less than 25%. COs failed to hospitalize 40.8% of children with severe or very severe pneumonia.IMCI pneumonia care quality at this Malawian government clinic is alarmingly low. Along with reassessing current pneumonia training and supervision approaches, novel quality improvement interventions are necessary to improve care.
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Project description:INTRODUCTION:In children with pneumonia, chest x-ray (CXR) is typically the first imaging modality used for diagnostic work-up. Repeated CXR or computed tomography (CT) are often necessary if complications such as abscesses or empyema arise, thus increasing radiation exposure. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the potential of radiation-free chest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect complications at baseline and follow-up, compared to CXR with and without additional lung ultrasound (LUS). METHODS:Paired MRI and CXR scans were retrospectively reviewed by two blinded readers for presence and severity of pulmonary abscess, consolidation, bronchial wall thickening, mucus plugging and pleural effusion/empyema using a chest MRI scoring system. The scores for MRI and CXR were compared at baseline and follow-up. Furthermore, the MRI scores at baseline with and without contrast media were evaluated. RESULTS:33 pediatric patients (6.3±4.6 years), who had 33 paired MRI and CXR scans at baseline and 12 at follow-up were included. MRI detected significantly more lung abscess formations with a prevalence of 72.7% compared to 27.3% by CXR at baseline (p = 0.001), whereas CXR+LUS was nearly as good as MRI. MRI also showed a higher sensitivity in detecting empyema (p = 0.003). At follow-up, MRI also showed a slightly better sensitivity regarding residual abscesses. The overall severity of disease was rated higher on MRI. Contrast material did not improve detection of abscesses or empyema by MRI. CONCLUSION:CXR and LUS seem to be sufficient in most cases. In cases where LUS cannot be realized or the combination of CXR+LUS might be not sufficient, MRI, as a radiation free modality, should be preferred to CT. Furthermore, the admission of contrast media is not mandatory in this context.
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Project description:INTRODUCTION:The maternal mortality rate in Indonesia is still quite high. It requires good knowledge for early prevention. The study aimed to analyze the determinants of knowledge of the pregnancy danger signs in Indonesia. METHODS:The samples used were 85,832 women of childbearing age (15-49 years old). The variables included understanding of danger signs of pregnancy, types of residence, age, education, employment, marital status, wealth, parity, the autonomy of health, current pregnancy status, and media exposure. The determinant was pointed out by using binary logistic regression. RESULTS:Urban women were 1.124 times more likely to understand the pregnancy danger signs of than rural women. Older women could identify pregnancy danger signs better than those aged 15-19 years. The more educated a woman is, the higher knowledge of the pregnancy danger signs she has. Married women or those who live with their partner were at 1.914 times likely to identify the pregnancy danger signs than unmarried ones or those who have never been in a relationship. If the wealth status gets higher, knowledge of the pregnancy danger signs will be better too. Grande multiparous women were at 0.815 times more likely to understand the pregnancy danger signs than primiparous. Women with the autonomy of health had 1.053 times chances to identify the pregnancy danger signs than those without autonomy. Women who were currently pregnant had 1.229 times better understanding of the pregnancy danger signs than women who were not currently pregnant. Media exposure had a good effect on women's understanding of the pregnancy danger signs. CONCLUSION:All variables tested were the determinants of knowledge of the pregnancy danger signs in Indonesia. These include residence, age, education, employment, marital status, wealth, parity, the autonomy of health, current pregnancy status, and media exposure.
| S-EPMC7239433 | biostudies-literature
Project description:As part of a randomised controlled trial of treatment with placebo versus 3 days of amoxicillin for nonsevere fast-breathing pneumonia among Malawian children aged 2-59 months, a subset of children was hospitalised for observation. We sought to characterise the progression of fast-breathing pneumonia among children undergoing repeat assessments to better understand which children do and do not deteriorate. Vital signs and physical examination findings, including respiratory rate, arterial oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry (SpO2 ), chest indrawing and temperature were assessed every 3 h for the duration of hospitalisation. Children were assessed for treatment failure during study visits on days 1, 2, 3 and 4. Hospital monitoring data from 436 children were included. While no children had SpO2 90-93% at baseline, 7.4% (16 of 215) of children receiving amoxicillin and 9.5% (21 of 221) receiving placebo developed SpO2 90-93% during monitoring. Similarly, no children had chest indrawing at enrolment, but 6.6% (14 of 215) in the amoxicillin group and 7.2% (16 of 221) in the placebo group went on to develop chest indrawing during hospitalisation. Repeat monitoring of children with fast-breathing pneumonia identified vital and physical examination signs not present at baseline, including SpO2 90-93% and chest indrawing. This information may support providers and policymakers in developing guidance for care of children with nonsevere pneumonia.
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Project description:BackgroundThe aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the diagnostic value of lung ultrasound (LUS) in comparison to chest radiography (CXR) in children with pneumonia.MethodsComputer-based retrieval was performed on PubMed and EMBASE. Quality was evaluated according to the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies-2, and Meta-Disc was adopted to perform meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was assessed using Q and I statistics. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) as the primary outcomes were calculated for each index test.ResultsTwenty two studies with a total of 2470 patients met the inclusion criteria. Our results showed that the pooled sensitivity, specificity, and DOR for children with pneumonia diagnosed by LUS were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.94 to 0.96), 0.90 (95% CI: 0.87 to 0.92), and 137.49 (95% CI: 60.21 to 313.98), respectively. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and DOR for pediatric pneumonia diagnosed by CXR was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.90 to 0.93), 1.00 (95% CI: 0.99 to 1.00), and 369.66 (95% CI: 137.14 to 996.47), respectively. Four clinical signs, including pulmonary consolidation, positive air bronchogram, abnormal pleural line, and pleural effusion were most frequently observed using LUS in the screening of children with pneumonia.ConclusionsThe available evidence suggests that LUS is a reliable, valuable, and alternative method to CXR for the diagnosis of pediatric pneumonia.
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Project description:BackgroundWhether digitally recorded lung sounds are associated with radiographic pneumonia or clinical outcomes among children in low-income and middle-income countries is unknown. We sought to address these knowledge gaps.MethodsWe enrolled 1 to 59monthold children hospitalized with pneumonia at eight African and Asian Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health sites in six countries, recorded digital stethoscope lung sounds, obtained chest radiographs, and collected clinical outcomes. Recordings were processed and classified into binary categories positive or negative for adventitial lung sounds. Listening and reading panels classified recordings and radiographs. Recording classification associations with chest radiographs with World Health Organization (WHO)-defined primary endpoint pneumonia (radiographic pneumonia) or mortality were evaluated. We also examined case fatality among risk strata.ResultsAmong children without WHO danger signs, wheezing (without crackles) had a lower adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for radiographic pneumonia (0.35, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.15, 0.82), compared to children with normal recordings. Neither crackle only (no wheeze) (aOR: 2.13, 95% CI: 0.91, 4.96) or any wheeze (with or without crackle) (aOR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.34, 1.15) were associated with radiographic pneumonia. Among children with WHO danger signs no lung recording classification was independently associated with radiographic pneumonia, although trends toward greater odds of radiographic pneumonia were observed among children classified with crackle only (no wheeze) or any wheeze (with or without crackle). Among children without WHO danger signs, those with recorded wheezing had a lower case fatality than those without wheezing (3.8% vs. 9.1%, p = .03).ConclusionsAmong lower risk children without WHO danger signs digitally recorded wheezing is associated with a lower odds for radiographic pneumonia and with lower mortality. Although further research is needed, these data indicate that with further development digital auscultation may eventually contribute to child pneumonia care.
| S-EPMC7692889 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSevere anemia is a major cause of sickness and death in African children, yet the causes of anemia in this population have been inadequately studied.MethodsWe conducted a case-control study of 381 preschool children with severe anemia (hemoglobin concentration, <5.0 g per deciliter) and 757 preschool children without severe anemia in urban and rural settings in Malawi. Causal factors previously associated with severe anemia were studied. The data were examined by multivariate analysis and structural equation modeling.ResultsBacteremia (adjusted odds ratio, 5.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6 to 10.9), malaria (adjusted odds ratio, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.6 to 3.3), hookworm (adjusted odds ratio, 4.8; 95% CI, 2.0 to 11.8), human immunodeficiency virus infection (adjusted odds ratio, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.0 to 3.8), the G6PD-202/-376 genetic disorder (adjusted odds ratio, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.3 to 4.4), vitamin A deficiency (adjusted odds ratio, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.3 to 5.8), and vitamin B12 deficiency (adjusted odds ratio, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.4 to 3.6) were associated with severe anemia. Folate deficiency, sickle cell disease, and laboratory signs of an abnormal inflammatory response were uncommon. Iron deficiency was not prevalent in case patients (adjusted odds ratio, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.22 to 0.60) and was negatively associated with bacteremia. Malaria was associated with severe anemia in the urban site (with seasonal transmission) but not in the rural site (where malaria was holoendemic). Seventy-six percent of hookworm infections were found in children under 2 years of age.ConclusionsThere are multiple causes of severe anemia in Malawian preschool children, but folate and iron deficiencies are not prominent among them. Even in the presence of malaria parasites, additional or alternative causes of severe anemia should be considered.
| S-EPMC5116999 | biostudies-literature