Magnitude of Pneumonia and Bronchiolitis and Their Treatment Modalities Practiced in Under Five Children Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Pneumonia is the leading cause of death globally among children younger than five years of age. Acute bronchiolitis is also a major public health problem throughout the world. Many children with pneumonia and bronchiolitis are not properly diagnosed, and overuse of antibiotics has led to increasing drug resistance. Objectives: To determine the magnitude of pneumonia and bronchiolitis and to study their treatment modalities practiced in under five children. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was carried out in the Pediatric inpatient department and outpatient department of Rajshahi Medical college Hospital from October 2015 to March 2016. Total 373 cases between 1 month to 59 months of age with acute respiratory infection who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. The inclusion criteria were any child between 1 month to 59 months of age presented with respiratory symptoms including cough/runny nose or breathing difficulty as complained by the caregivers or having chest in-drawing. Detailed information was obtained through structured questionnaire and then analyzed. Results: In this study majority of the children 223 (59.78%) were under 12 months of age. There were 234 (62.73%) male and 139 (37.27%) female cases, male to female ratio being 1.68:1. Among studied children 217 (58.18%) were urban dwellers and 156 (41.82%) were from rural areas and majority of the children 268 (71.85%) came from lower socioeconomic strata. Out of 373 cases, pneumonia was diagnosed in 131(35.12%) cases, bronchiolitis in 88 (23.60%) cases and other acute respiratory tract infections in 154 (41.28%) cases. Most common antibiotic used for the treatment of both pneumonia and bronchiolitis was ceftriaxone in 34.35% and 25