A Retrospective Cohort Analysis of the Treatment of Bacterial Pneumonia Pediatric Cases

Aims: The present study aims to evaluate the use of antibiotics in the management of bacterial pneumonia in the pediatric sector of a teaching hospital.

Study Design: A retrospective and descriptive cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: The pediatrics sector of the Julio Bandeira University Hospital (HUJB), Brazil from September 2017 to December 2021.

Methodology: A total of 734 medical records were analyzed, based on two groups: a) For those subjects who adhered to the protocol (AP) and b) for those who did not (DP), which were already recommended in the agreement described in the guidelines of hospital. The data were analyzed in a descriptive and exploratory way to evaluate the distribution and characterize the study population, so that the categorical variables were presented in the form of absolute (n) and relative (%) frequencies, while the continuous variables were evaluated through measures of central tendency and dispersion.

As the data distribution did not adhere to normality, the differences between the proportions of categorical variables were evaluated by the Chi-square test (5% significance level), while the differences between the medians by the U-Mann-Whitney test.

Results: The results found indicate greater effectiveness in the group that followed the institution's protocol (95.93%), as well as less use of antibiotics in therapy, making the majority use of monotherapy (74%), and adequacy to the duration of therapy (OR=1.49). In addition, there was an increase in the use of azithromycin during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: The group that adhered to the protocol stood out over the group that did not adhere to the protocol in terms of greater effectiveness. Of treatment, less use of antibiotics and adequate length of stay for the prescribed treatment. Furthermore, a growth in the use of azithromycin was observed during the years of the Covid-19 pandemic.