Pneumonia Mortality Among Young Children Has Decreased Globally

The rate of mortality from pneumonia in children younger than 5 years has decreased significantly from 1960 to 2012 across 56 countries worldwide, according to a recent retrospective analysis.

Pneumonia is the second leading cause of death among children younger than 5 years around the world.
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To assess long-term trends of mortality from pneumonia in young children, the researchers evaluated data from the World Health Organization mortality database for 56 countries and 4 national income transition groups.

Additionally, they used joint regression analysis to determine distinct period segments of long-term trends and to estimate the annual percent of changes of each period segment.

The researchers discovered that the average rate of mortality from pneumonia among children age 0 to 4 years had decreased significantly from 1960 to 2012 across 56 countries, with a decline of 163.0 per 100,000 children to 9.9 per 100,000 children, and an annual percent of change of -5.6%.

However, the researchers noted that the temporal trends of childhood mortality had differed across national income transition groups.

“Our findings suggest a striking overall downward trend in [mortality among children younger than 5 years] from pneumonia between 1960 and 2012,” the researchers concluded. “However, the rate and absolute terms of decline differ by national income transition group. These variable patterns between national income transition groups may inform further intervention setting and priority setting.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Wu J, Yang S, Cao Q, et al. Pneumonia mortality in children aged <5 years in 56 countries: a retrospective analysis of trends from 1960 to 2012. Clin Infect Dis. 2017;65(10):1721-1728. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cix633.