Introduction:

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children aged <5 years worldwide. In Paraguay, approximately 1,000 children aged <5 years die from CAP each year.

Objective:

To determine the epidemiological, clinical, and evolutionary characteristics of CAP in patients hospitalized between January 2021 and May 2024.

Materials and Methods:

This was an observational, retrospective, descriptive, and analytical study. Patients aged ≤17 years with CAP were included. Data were obtained from medical records, recorded in Excel 2010, and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Variable associations were established using the Chi-square test.

Results:

A total of 135 patients with CAP were included, 23% were aged 13-24 months, 20.7% were 13-24 months, and 17.8% (24/135) were ≤12 months old. 63% were male, 11.8% were of low socioeconomic status, 24.4% were incompletely vaccinated, 51% had underlying pathology, 12.6% lived in overcrowded conditions, and 27% had contact with garbage burning. Longer hospital stays (>7 days) were associated with saturation <95% on admission, CRP>100mg/L, and requirement for ICU admission.

Conclusions:

CAP predominated in children aged 2-4 years, and the most frequent clinical manifestations were fever, cough, and respiratory distress, with uncomplicated lobar pneumonia being the most common diagnosis. Factors associated with longer hospitalization included oxygen saturation <95%, CRP >100 mg/dL, and the need for ICU admission. Need for ICU admission was associated with low socioeconomic status, and oxygen saturation <95% was associated with cases of complicated pneumonia.

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