HOSPITALIZATIONS DUE TO PNEUMONIA - THE I NFLUENCE OF SOCIOECONOMIC AND PREGNANCY FACTORS IN A COHORT OF CHILDREN IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

Objective To investigate the influence of socioeconomic and gestationa l factors on admission due to pneumonia in the post-neonatal period. M ethodology Cohort. Children born in the city Pelotas, Brazil, in 1993. Cases were children admitted to hospital for 24 hours or more, betwee n the ages of 28 and 364 days, with a diagnosis of pneumonia. Results Of the 5,304 children in the cohort, 152 (2.9%) were hospitalized with pneumonia. The positive preditive value of the clinical diagnosis com pared to the radiological assessment was 76%. Analysis by conditional logistic regression showed that social class and maternal schooling we re strongly inversely associated with pneumonia. Children of adolescen t mothers were twice as likely to be admitted. The relative risk for c hildren whose mothers were of parity three or greater was 2.8 relative to primiparae. Maternal weight gain during pregnancy of less than 10 kg was associated with a 40% increase in risk. Conclusion Socioeconomi c factors were important determinants of pneumonia admissions. Materna l age, parity and weight gain were also significant risk factors.