Assessment and Classification of Acute Respiratory Tract Infections among Egyptian Rural Children

Aim: To study the problem of ARI (Acute respiratory tract infection) according to IMCI (integrated management of childhood illness) guidelines and find its relation with different related factors.
Study Design: Cross sectional study followed by comparative study to the different classifications of ARI.
Place and Duration of Study: Met-Mazah Integrated Hospital in Met-Mazah village, Dakahlia governorate, Egypt. The study carried out on one hundred children below 5 years selected by systematic sampling through a period of 6 months.
Methodology: A questionnaire was used to assess different factors such as sociodemographic factors, feeding habits and immunization history then detailed general and pulmonary examination of patients was done.
Results: The majority of ARIs cases were below two years. Severe pneumonia or very severe disease was slightly higher among male children and those had birth order 6 and more with no significant difference. More than half (60%) of those with family size ≥ 6 had severe pneumonia or very severe disease with significant statistical difference (p=0.005). About half of the children with very low social score were classified as pneumonia (46%) with no significant statistical difference. Total cases of ARIs and those classified as severe pneumonia or very severe disease were higher among those receiving mixed breast feeding and artificial feeding, among weaned children receiving starchy food and among those had partial immunization. All the children who had measles were classified as severe pneumonia or very severe disease with no significant differences. The majority of ARIs cases received hospital treatment and referred to specialist, also the majority of those referred to hospital were classified as pneumonia and severe pneumonia or very severe disease (44%) for both with significant statistical difference (p<0.001).