COMPARISON OF HOSPITAL STAY IN PNEUMONIA IN MALNOURISHED VS HEALTHY CHILDREN

Abstract

Objective: Determine the length of hospital stay in malnourished and well-nourished children suffering from pneumonia.

Study Design: Descriptive case series

Place and Duration of Study: Pediatric Department of Avicenna Medical College and Hospital, Lahore during the period from 5 October 2025 to 5 April 2025

Methodology: The study was conducted on a group of 135 children between the ages of 1 to 12 who were admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. The sampling method was consecutive non-probability sampling. The sociodemographic data, anthropometric measurements, and hospital stay were documented. The data was processed using the statistical package SPSS version 27.0. For the analysis of continuous variables, the Mann-Whitney U test was applied while the Pearson Chi-square test was used for the analysis of categorical variables. A p-value less than 0.05 was interpreted as statistically significant.

Results: Out of the total of 135 children, it was determined that 68 (50.4%) were malnourished, while 67 (49.6%) were well-nourished. Mean duration of hospitalization for malnourished children was significantly longer than that of well-nourished children (7.65 ± 1.21 vs 3.55 ± 0.61 days; p<0.001). All malnourished children suffered long hospital stays, whereas all well-nourished children had short stays (p<0.001). The malnourished group had weight, height, and Z-scores that were significantly lower (p<0.001).

Conclusion:

Malnutrition is considered to be a significant factor contributing to the prolonged hospitalization of children with pneumonia, thus, the need for immediate nutritional evaluation and intervention becomes even more pressing.