Journal article

Pneumonia in severely malnourished children in developing countries - Mortality risk, aetiology and validity of WHO clinical signs: A systematic review

MJ Chisti, M Tebruegge, S La Vincente, SM Graham, T Duke

Tropical Medicine and International Health | WILEY | Published : 2009

Abstract

Objectives To quantify the degree by which moderate and severe degrees of malnutrition increase the mortality risk in pneumonia, to identify potential differences in the aetiology of pneumonia between children with and without severe malnutrition, and to evaluate the validity of WHO-recommended clinical signs (age-specific fast breathing and chest wall indrawing) for the diagnosis of pneumonia in severely malnourished children. Methods Systematic search of the existing literature using a variety of databases (Medline, EMBASE, the Web of Science, Scopus and CINAHL). Results Mortality risk: Sixteen relevant studies were identified, which universally showed that children with pneumonia and mode..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. AWBR Johnson for providing further data related to his manuscript and for his constructive suggestions. M. J. C is supported by an Australian Development Scholarship provided by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). M. T is supported by a Fellowship award by the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) and an International Research Scholarship by The University of Melbourne. The Centre for International Child Health is a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research & Training in Child & Neonatal Health, is supported by the RE Ross Trust (Victoria), and is part of the AusAID Knowledge Hub for Women's and Children's Health.