Cardiac Conduction Disorders in Children with Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cardiac conduction in children with non-severe community-acquired pneumonia during inpatient treatment and period of convalescence by electrocardiographic examination. The study involved 166 children aged 1 to 17 years, patients with non-severe community-acquired pneumonia, undergoing inpatient treatment in Pediatric Hospital. On the second day of treatment, each child underwent a heart ECG. The control sample consisted of 271 healthy children. Then, after dispensary observation, children with abnormalities in cardiac conduction had another ECG. The study found that 76% of children with non-severe pneumonia had ECG changes. The majority of children had conduction disorders of different localization and degree. Intraventricular conduction disorder in pneumonia occurred in 38% of cases, 2.5 times more often than in the control sample. Considering pathology of heart excitability, 3.96% of children had signs of right atrium overload, and 2.85 % - of left ventricle. 70 % of children with conduction disorders still had these changes after the ECG study in dynamics. This study showed that children with pneumonia had significant changes in the electrophysiological activity of the heart, which may have persisted after the convalescence period. This group of patients requires special management tactics at the stage of therapy and rehabilitation.