Hyponatraemia in cases of children with pneumonia

Sakellaropoulou, Afroditi; Hatzistilianou, Maria; Eboriadou, Maria; Athanasiadou-Piperopoulou, Fanni

The study population consisted of 54 children, 0.20-12.0 years old (mean ± SE: 4.67 ±0.39 years). There were 32 males (59.25%) and 22 females (40.75%). The duration of their hospitalization was 2.0-15.0 days (mean ± SE: 5.42 ±0.42 days). The majority of them presented cough (44/54, 81.50%), and fever (53/54, 98.15%). Admission body temperature was variable, ranging between 36.2°C and 41.0°C (mean ± SE: 37.96 ±0.17°C). Fever was present for 0-15 days (4.24 ±0.43 days) before entrance to the hospital, and lasted for 0.0-11.0 days (2.75 ±0.27 days) after admission day. Moreover, cough was present 0.0-10.0 days before hospitalization (mean ± SE: 4.10 ±0.43 days) in children with pneumonia. Nasal congestion and abdominal pain were described in about one third of them (16/54, 29.60% and 17/54, 31.50% respectively). Thoracic pain and vomiting were recorded only in 9/54 (16.70%) and 5/54 (9.25%) of them respectively. One third of the children with pneumonia had previously received antibiotics (18/54, 33.33%). Seven children developed pleural effusion. The outcome of all patients was favourable. Laboratory values of both sexes are presented in Table I. There were no statistically significant differences between age of hospitalized children with pneumonia and their sex (p = 0.25) or the presence of abdominal pain (p = 0.27). However, older children (mean age ± SE: 6.93 ±1.11 years) more often (p = 0.01) present thoracic pain compared with younger ones (mean age ± SE: 4.22 ±0.38 years). Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference between the duration of hospitalization and the presence of thoracic (r = -0.96, p = 0.33) or abdominal pain (z = -1.04, p = 0.29).