Article ID: JJID.2016.212
The aim of this study is to compare pneumonia hospitalization in children between secondary and tertiary medical facilities, hospitalizing many children without and with underlying diseases, respectively, after the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). Our retrospective study was performed on the children who were admitted to the Department of Pediatrics at Kitakyushu General Hospital, a secondary medical facility, and at Hospital of the University of Occupational and Environment Health, Japan, a tertiary medical facility, from 2009 to 2013 for pneumonia. The variation of hospitalization rate for pneumonia after the introduction of 7-valent PCV was compared between the secondary and the tertiary medical facilities. The hospitalization of the patients with pneumonia declined by 28.8% in our secondary medical facility. In particular, the hospitalization for pneumonia except for confirmed mycoplasmal or viral pneumonia was significantly reduced by 49.2%. On the other hand, the hospitalization of the patients with pneumonia did not decline in our tertiary medical facility. After the introduction of PCV, the hospitalization for pneumonia in children was not reduced at a tertiary medical facility. More various pathogens except for pneumococcus may be associated with the development of pneumonia in children with underlying diseases.
