Outcome of children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia treated with aqueous penicillin G.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To describe the evolution and outcome of children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia receiving penicillin.

METHODS:

A search was carried out for all hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia cases in a 37-month period. Inclusion criteria comprised age >2 months, intravenous penicillin G use at 200,000 IU/kg/day for >48 h and chest x-ray results. Confounders leading to exclusion included underlying debilitating or chronic pulmonary illnesses, nosocomial pneumonia or transference to another hospital. Pneumonia was confirmed if a pulmonary infiltrate or pleural effusion was described by an independent radiologist blind to the clinical information. Data on admission and evolution were entered on a standardized form.

RESULTS:

Of 154 studied cases, 123 (80%) and 40 (26%) had pulmonary infiltrate or pleural effusion, respectively. Penicilli was substituted by other antibiotics in 28 (18%) patients, in whom the sole significant decrease was in the frequency of tachypnea from the first to the second day of treatment (86% vs. 50%, p = 0.008). Among patients treated exclusively with penicillin G, fever (46% vs. 26%, p = 0.002), tachypnea (74% vs. 59%, p = 0.003), chest indrawing (29% vs. 13%, p<0.001) and nasal flaring (10% vs. 1.6%, p = 0.001) frequencies significantly decreased from admission to the first day of treatment. Patients treated with other antimicrobial agents stayed longer in the hospital than those treated solely with penicillin G (16 ± 6 vs. 8 ± 4 days, p<0.001, mean difference (95% confidence interval) 8 (6-10)). None of the studied patients died.

CONCLUSION:

Penicillin G successfully treated 82% (126/154) of the study group and improvement was marked on the first day of treatment.

• Authors: Raquel Simbalista, Marcelo Araújo, Cristiana M Nascimento-Carvalho
• Journal: Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) (Clinics (Sao Paulo)) Vol. 66 Issue 1 Pg. 95-100 ( 2011) ISSN: 1980-5322 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 21437443 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents
• Penicillin G

Topics

• Anti-Bacterial Agents (therapeutic use)
• Brazil
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Cohort Studies
• Community-Acquired Infections (drug therapy)
• Female
• Humans
• Infant
• Male
• Penicillin G (therapeutic use)
• Pneumonia, Bacterial (drug therapy)
• Retrospective Studies
• Statistics, Nonparametric
• Time Factors
• Treatment Outcome