BMJ  2006;333 (23 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7569.0-c

Fast breathing is not enough to diagnose childhood pneumonia

Many children who have non-severe pneumonia diagnosed on the basis of the current WHO definition (fast breathing alone) have no radiological evidence of pneumonia. In a descriptive analysis Hazir and colleagues (p 629) evaluated the chest radiographs of 1848 children aged 2-59 months from outpatient departments in four Pakistan cities with clinical diagnoses of non-severe pneumonia. Only 14% of the chest radiographs showed radiological evidence of pneumonia, and 82% were reported as normal. WHO definitions of pneumonia need to be more specific, mainly to improve the rational use of antibiotics, conclude the authors.

Credit: CDC

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Chest radiography in children aged 2-59 months diagnosed with non-severe pneumonia as defined by World Health Organization: descriptive multicentre study in Pakistan

Tabish Hazir, Yasir Bin Nisar, Shamim A Qazi, Shazia F Khan, Mujahid Raza, Shehla Zameer, and Syed Asif Masood
BMJ 2006 333: 629. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]