HOSPITALIZATION FOR PNEUMONIA IN CHILDREN IN AUCKLAND, NEW-ZEALAND

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of hospitalisations for pneumo nia in children in Auckland, New Zealand. Methods: A consecutive sampl e of children hospitalised with pneumonia at the Starship Childrens Ho spital from 1 July 1993 to 30 June 1996. Subjects were Pacific Island, Maori, and European/other children aged 0-14 years resident in north, west and central Auckland who were hospitalised with pneumonia. Compa risons were made of the number of hospitalisations by year, ethnicity, age and season; and of the hospitalisation rates by year, ethnicity a nd age. Results: There were 681 children who were hospitalised with pn eumonia during 1993-94, 731 during 1994-95 and 630 during 1995-96. The average annual hospitalisation rate was 5.0 per 1000 children aged 0- 14 years (95% CI 4.8-5.2). The average annual hospitalisation rate for Pacific Island children was 14.0 per 1000 (95% CI 13.0-14.9), for Mao ri children 6.7 per 1000 (95% CI 6.0-7.4) and for European/other child ren was 2.7 per 1000 (95% CI 2.6-2.9). Fifty-three per cent of the hos pitalised children were less than 2 years of age. A larger percentage of Pacific Island (61%) and Maori (60%) children were aged less than 2 years compared to European/other (42%) children (P<0.001). There was marked seasonal variability in the number of hospitalisations, with pe aks in hospitalisations corresponding to peaks in positive respiratory viral isolates. Conclusions: Pneumonia was a consistent cause of hosp italisation for a large number of Auckland children during this 3-year period. Hospitalisation rates and age distribution varied with ethnic ity. Hospitalisation rates were highest for Pacific Island, intermedia te for Maori and lowest for European/other children. Based on these ho spitalisation data, pneumonia is a significant cause of morbidity for children in Auckland, New Zealand.