Observational follow-up study on a cohort of children with severe pneumonia after discharge from a day-care clinic in Dhaka,Bangladesh

Compliance,morbidity,mortality,and hospitalization during fortnightly follow-up were evaluated by an observational study on a cohort of children with severe and very severe pneumonia after day-care treatment at an urban clinic. the primary outcome measures were proportions of success (compliance) and failure (non-compliance) of follow-up visits at the day-care clinic. in total,251 children were followed up,with median (iqr) age of 5.0 (3.0-9.0) months,and their compliance dropped from 92% at the first to 85% at the sixth visit. cough (28%),fever (20%),and rapid breathing (13%) were common morbidities. successful follow-up visits were possible in 180 (95.2%) and 56 (90.3%) of the children with severe and very severe pneumonia respectively. eleven (4.4%) needed hospitalization,and four (1.6%) died. majority (≈90%) of the children could be successfully followed up; some failed to attend their scheduled follow-up visits due to hospitalization and death. the common morbidities indicate the importance of follow-up for detecting medical problems and early treatment,thus reducing risk of death. © international centre for diarrhoeal disease research,bangladesh.