Open AccessDetection of pneumonia among children under six years by clinical evaluation
Author(s) -
Hiyam E. Shamoon,
A. Hawamdah,
Rania Haddadin,
S. Jmeian
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
eastern mediterranean health journal/eastern mediterranean health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1687-1634
pISSN - 1020-3397
DOI - 10.26719/2004.10.4-5.482
Subject(s) - medicine , pneumonia , pediatrics , prospective cohort study , vital signs , radiology
To determine the most useful clinical symptoms and signs for detection of pneumonia in children, we carried out a prospective clinical study at Queen Alia Hospital, Amman, on 147 children admitted between August 2002 and January 2003 with clinical pneumonia. All the children had chest X-rays, which were read by the same radiologist. The most sensitive and specific signs and symptoms for prediction of pneumonia were coughing, tachypnoea [respiratory rate > 50/min] and chest wall indrawing. We found that presence of tachypnoea and lower chest wall indrawing can detect most cases of pneumonia. If all clinical signs are negative, chest X-ray findings are unlikely to be positive