Aim: The objective of the study  is  to  find out the correlation between clinical diagnosis of pneumonia and its radiological changes .

Material and Methods: One fifty and two children aged 2months to 5 years, admitted at the department of Paediatrics, Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal, from April 2016 to March 2017  with tachypnoea and/or chest retraction were included in the study. Children with known cardiovascular disease, asthma, tuberculosis and neurological disorders were excluded. Detailed clinical history taking, meticulous clinical examinations were performed and Chest x-rays were taken on admission for all included patients.

Result: Sensitivity, Specificity, PPV, NPV of tachypnoea was 98.06%, 24.49%, 73.19% and 85.71% respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV of grunting were calculated to be 9.70%,100%, 100% & 34.50% respectively. Fever, cough and tachypnoea together were present in 96(63.16%) children.  Sensitivity and specificity of presence of fever, cough, and tachypnoea were 76.70% and 65.31%; PPV and NPV were calculated to be 82.29% and 57.14% respectively.

Conclusion: Presence of Tachypnoea was the most sensitive parameter to diagnosis pneumonia. Grunting was the most specific parameter and had highest positive predictive value in respect of radiologically confirmed pneumonia.

Keywords: Pneumonia, Tachypnoea, Grunting.

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Moksuda Khatun

Junior Resident, Paediatrics, Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India