ArticleCureus2025
Etiology and Clinical Correlates of Pediatric Pneumonia in Lebanon in the Era Following COVID-19 Vaccine Availability: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.
Article in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the global epidemiology of respiratory infections. In Lebanon, a country facing a complex socio-economic crisis, data on the contemporary microbiological etiology and clinical characteristics of pediatric pneumonia following the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines are critically scarce. METHODOLOGY: A multicenter, retrospective study was conducted from January 2022 to February 2023. Children aged one month to 13 years admitted with radiologically confirmed pneumonia to three hospitals were included. Patients were categorized into those with an identified pathogen (bacterial, viral, or mixed) and those with an unknown etiology. Data on demographics, clinical presentation, laboratory results, radiological findings, and treatment were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY).
resultsAmong 157 children, the etiology was unknown in 75.8% (n=119) of cases. Confirmed bacterial pneumonia accounted for 13.4% (n=21), viral pneumonia for 9.6% (n=15), and mixed (bacterial-viral) infections for 1.3% (n=2). Only 13.3% (n=2) of viral cases were SARS-CoV-2 positive. Bacterial pneumonia was characterized by a high rate of bacteremia (76.2%, n=16), predominantly with Gram-negative organisms. Children with an identified pathogen had significantly higher heart rates (141.3 vs. 130.8 beats per minute (bpm), p=0.026), lower oxygen saturation (93.8% vs. 95.6%, p=0.002), longer hospital stays (9.1 vs. 5.5 days, p<0.001), and higher ICU admission rates (23.7%, n=9 vs. 5.0%, n=6; p=0.001). Pulmonary consolidation on X-ray was more common in the identified group (39.5%, n=15 vs. 17.6%, n=21; p=0.005).
conclusionsA significant majority of pediatric pneumonia cases in this contemporary Lebanese cohort are of unknown etiology, underscoring persistent diagnostic challenges. Microbiologically confirmed pneumonia, particularly with Gram-negative bacteria, is associated with greater clinical severity. These findings highlight an urgent need for enhanced diagnostic strategies and tailored antimicrobial stewardship programs in the post-pandemic era to optimize patient care and combat antimicrobial resistance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.