Persistent pneumonia: Underlying cause and outcome

Abstract

The most common underlying cause of persistent pneumonia were persistent infection followed by aspiration and acquired immunodeficiency.

Recurrent/Persistent Pneumonia Among Children in Upper Egypt

“…This is in agreement with many reports 7, 9, 11, 20, 24 who observed that aspiration disorders were the most frequent cause of recurrent/persistent pneumonia. Interestingly, 16 of our cases had FB aspiration.…”

“…Notably, most of the literatures describe the etiology of recurrent/persistent pneumonia. 7–16 In the current study; 9.2% of patients with pneumonia met the definition of recurrent/persistent pneumonia, 7% for recurrent and 2.2% for persistent pneumonia. Similarly; 1–9% of patients met the criteria for recurrent/persistent in previous studies 7–16…”

“…The occurrence of these symptoms specially in times where the patient has no history of aspiration sometimes results in misdiagnosis as bronchitis, asthma and pneumonia and the patients undergo treatment with antibiotics, bronchodilators, and corticosteroids which itself result in the changing of clinical manifestations and chronicity of the disease. 7, 9, 17, 18…”

“…1 Recurrent pneumonia was defined as two episodes of pneumonia occurring in 1 year or three episodes of pneumonia occurring in any time frame 3,6. Persistent pneumonia was defined as features of lower respiratory tract infection (i.e., cough, tachypnea and fever with or without chest retractions) with radiological evidence of infiltrates or consolidation in the lungs persisting for 30 days or more, despite receiving antibiotics for a minimum period of 10 days 6,7. The study protocol was approved by the ethical committee of Assiut University Children’s Hospital, Egypt.…”

Foreign Body Aspiration: Imaging Aspects

“…Foreign body aspiration, however, is by no means the most common cause of recurrent pneumonia. Recurrent or persistent pneumonia can also result from bacterial infections, gastroesophageal reflux, impaired clearance of secretions from the tracheobronchial tree as in asthma, ciliary dysmotility (primary ciliary dyskinesia), cystic fibrosis, infected bronchiectasis or secondary to an immune deficiency (Kumar et al 2009). Tumors of the tracheobronchial tree are uncommon in children, but, when present, may cause a varying degree of airway obstruction.…”