Aetiology and Clinical Presentation of Pneumonia in Hospitalized and Outpatient Children in Northeast Brazil and Risk Factors for Severity (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) are the main cause of mortality among children aged less than five years in developing countries, resulting in about 1.9 million deaths every year (1). Most of these deaths occur due to pneumonia (2). ALRIs are also a major cause of morbidity among children, resulting in a large proportion of clinic attendance and hospital admissions (3). The estimated median incidence rate of ALRIs is 0.45 episode per child per year in the developing world, although there is a considerable geographic variation in its occurrence (4).