neumonia

ABSTRACT
An observational, descriptive, longitudinal study was conducted during 2010 aimed at characterizing community-acquired-pneumonia clinically and epidemiologically. The target group wascomprised of 350 children between 28 days old and 15 years old who were chosen through a simple at random sampling from the total of the in-hospital cases admitted in Pulmonology Service at "ComandantePinares" University Hospital, San Cristobal, Astemisa, Cuba. The necessary information to carry out this research was taken from a survey that included the following variables: identity general data,place of residence, maternal educational degree, risk factors, nutritional status and clinical symptoms and signs. Percentage mean and chi square hypothesis test were used to perform the statisticalassessment by a computerized system. The disease prevailed in male sex (53.7%), ages between 1-4 years old (56.0%), respiratory infection was the most recurrent associated risk factor, cough and feverwere the most frequent clinical symptoms, no more than 4% presented some degree of protein-energy malnutrition. Pneumonia was a serious health problem examined in the hospital.
INTRODUCCIÓN
El pulmónes el órgano por el que pasa permanentemente un gran volumen de aire, y todo el gasto cardiaco, constituyendo una gran diana donde se manifiesta con frecuencia la acción patógena de múltiples nóxas. Ladefensa habitual frente a estas agresiones es la inflamación, manifestación que se conoce como neumonía, donde se afectan los alvéolos y el intersticio.1
Las infecciones respiratorias agudas (IRA)representan uno de los principales problemas de Salud Pública en niños menores de cinco años a nivel mundial, al respecto, las neumonías constituyen la primera causa de mortalidad por infeccionesagudas en países en desarrollo, con promedio de 1,4 por cada 1000 nacidos vivos, y son la segunda causa de hospitalización.2 Se estima una incidencia anual cercana a 151 millones de nuevos casos de...