Current clinical profiles of acute respiratory tract infections in children between 2 months to 5 years

Background: The nascent respiratory tract of infants is highly vulnerable to frequent infections, thereby making acute respiratory infections a major risk factor for under five years morbidity and mortality. The clinical presentation of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) is however ambiguous and varied depending on a plethora of factors. The aim was to delineate the respiratory disease profiles of children aged 2 months-5 years in Western Maharashtra. Methods: The present cross sectional analytical study was conducted on 249 children aged between 2 months-5 years consulting the Pediatric wards and OPD with complaints of fever with cough, cold, breathlessness, and chest pain. A comprehensive medical history was procured, followed by general and systemic examinations. Infections were assessed and x-ray was taken for all the patients. Data was analyzed using statistical software R version 4.0.3 and Microsoft Excel. Results: The male:female ratio in the study was 137:112. Cold (80.72%) and cough (74.3%) were the most widely experienced symptoms among patients, while chest pain (0.8%) was the least common. Among 249 cases, upper respiratory tract infection (URTI; 60%) was more predominantly noted than lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI; 44.8%). Nasopharyngitis (34.14%) and tonsillopharyngitis (6.83%) were the commonly prevalent types of URTI whereas pneumonia and bronchiolitis were the most recurrent types in the LRTI. Conclusions: Practitioners must consider the possibility of acute URTI more closely and must not be quick to disregard common symptoms such as cold and cough. Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis can severely hamper the prognosis of ARTI in young children. Hence, keeping abreast of the current clinical profiles exhibited by ARTI is of paramount importance for practitioners and the general population in the fight against under 5 mortalities.