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Background: Modern life is full of hassles, deadlines, frustrations and demands. Mental stress or psychosocial stress is one of the major risk factor for hypertension which itself is the risk factor for various other cardiovascular diseases.

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Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is an acute infection of any part of the respiratory tract and related structures including paranasal sinuses, middle ear and pleural cavity. It included all infections less than 30 days duration except those of the middle ear where the duration of an acute episode is less than 14 days. 1 Globally on an average, children below five years of age suffer five episodes of ARI per child per year, thus accounting for about 238 million attacks. Consequently, ARIs are responsible for about 30-50% of visits to health facilities and about 20-40% of hospital admissions. 2 ARI is one of the major causes of death. In India, Hospital records from high mortality states that upto 13% of inpatients deaths in paediatric wards are due to ARI. According to recent WHO/UNICEF data, about 20% of all deaths in children under 5 years are due to acute lower respiratory infections (pneumonia, bronchiolitis and ABSTRACT Background: Childhood acute respiratory infection (ARI)/pneumonia is a significant public health problem in India, although robust epidemiological data is not available on its incidence. Mortality due to pneumonia accounts for approximately one-fourth of the total deaths in under five children, in India. The main aim is to assess clinical profile and associated risk factors of ARI cases admitted in tertiary care hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Western Maharashtra, targeting all ARI cases admitted over a period of 1 yr. in the Pediatric ward at Govt. Medical College and Hospital, Miraj, India from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011. A pre-tested structured questionnaire with details regarding clinical picture and risk factors influencing outcome of ARI cases was used to collect the information from person accompanying ARI child preferably mother. Statistical software SPSS 16 for proportions, chi square test and odds ratio are used for statistical analysis. Results: Out of 352 cases, tonsillar congestion was the most common sign (86.36%) and cough was the most common presenting symptom (91.48%).Majority (72.73%) of ARI children had hospital stay for <7 days. Significant risk factors associated with outcome of ARI Cases were Breast feeding and Nutritional status of child. Conclusions: Nutritional factors, malnutrition, and lack of breast-feeding constitute independent risk factors for pneumonia and interventions include efficient antenatal care, promotion of breast feeding, and appropriate MCH and family welfare services.