Abstract
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of death in developing countries and of morbidity in developed countries. Bronchopneumonia is the most common clinical indicator of pneumonia in pediatric population. It is the leading cause of death in children under 5 years. Efficacy of treatment involves the improvement of symptoms and the discharge from hospital. Safety of drug treatment involves the monitoring of adverse drug reactions and their management. Choice of drug therapy is based on assessment of severity of symptoms and microbial susceptibility of the population. The purpose of this study was to determine the most commonly used antibiotics at the local Pediatric Hospital, its efficacy and safety, the concomitant therapy in the treatment of bronchopneumonia and the conformance of local therapy to the guidelines of British Thoracic Society. A cross-sectional study of 3-months duration was conducted by recruiting a total of 200 Bronchopneumonia patients of age between 1 month and 5 years. Efficacy and safety was analyzed using questionnaire based on literature survey. Analysis was done by using descriptive statistics. Majority of the participants were Male (52.5%) with age greater than 1 month and less than 5 years. The most common symptom observed was cough which was present in 96.5% of patients. Majority of the patients (79%) were given augmentin as the first choice of treatment which was found to be effective. All the drugs were given through intravenous route. Augmentin was prescribed to majority of the patients (79%) for follow up treatment. Only 11.9% of the patients were found to have adverse drug reactions. The average duration of hospital stay was 7 days. The mortality rate was found to be 2%. No significant association was found between demographic variables and efficacy and safety of drug therapy. There was no strict conformance to the guidelines of British Thoracic Society. However the local guidelines were developed and found effective in the treatment of bronchopneumonia at the local pediatric hospital.