Clinical Profile and Outcome of Acute Respiratory Failure in Children: A Prospective Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Singh
2014 International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics  
It was to study the clinical pattern of acute respiratory failure in children from 1 month to 15 years of age and to determine the outcome of respiratory failure in relation to underlying etiology and associated factors. Methods: A hospital-based prospective study was conducted on 115 children in the age group from 1 month to 15 years. The duration of the study was 18 months. Acute respiratory failure was identified in any patient presenting with respiratory arrest or respiratory distress with
more » ... pO 2 < 90%. The arterial blood gas (ABG) was done in all the patients showing signs of respiratory distress/altered respiratory pattern, and were included in the study if PaO 2 < 50 mm Hg and/or PaCO 2 > 60 mm Hg. Results: Maximum patients (56.52%) were observed in the age group of 1 month to 1 year and majority was males. Pulmonary diseases accounted for majority (62.60%) of cases, followed by nervous system (23.50%), sepsis (9.56%) and cardiovascular system diseases (4.34%). The respiratory failure was classified into three types based on ABG analysis, of which hypoxic respiratory failure (type 1) was the commonest (74.78%). The commonest cause of respiratory failure and mortality was bronchopneumonia (42.60%). About one-third of the patients (33.91%) required ventilation support. Overall mortality rate was 14.14%. Among the malnourished children maximum number had grade IV malnutrition, and the mortality rate increased with the grade of malnutrition. Conclusion: The commonest type of respiratory failure was hy-poxic type, and bronchopneumonia was the commonest cause of mortality.
doi:10.14740/ijcp145w fatcat:666pxyo46ncxbcnqphu4jy37hq