Abstract

Background: Although measles epidemic has been controlled effectively after measles vaccination being carried out, China is still the focus of measles epidemic. The lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) is the most common complication, and also the most common reason for the death of patients with measles.

Purpose: To analyze what clinical factors could affect the grades of LRTIs in children under five years old with measles.

Methods: Patients’ 13 clinical factors and chest radiography were analyzed retrospectively. Based on the chest radiography, the LRTIs were divided into 3 grades. The clinical factors and the grades of LRTIs were analyzed by ordered logistic regression analysis.

Results: There were 74 cases in grade 0, 77 cases in grade 1, and 36 cases in grade 2. After univariate logistic regression analysis, there were 5 clinical factors whose P value were no more than 0.1, including the children’s course of disease before admission, co-infection other pathogens, vaccination, the first symptoms and gender. After ordinal logistic regression analysis, the difference in the course of disease before admission (OR = 1.134, 95% CI: 1.025 to 1.141), without vaccination (OR = 1.808, 95% CI: 1.065 to 3.065) and co-infected other pathogens other pathogens infections (OR = 1.618, 95% CI: 1.073 to 2.440) during different grades was statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: In our study, there were three clinical factors, including “with a long course of disease before admission”, “without measles vaccination” and “with other pathogens infections”, as the independent risk factors of the grades of LRTIs in children with measles.

Keywords: Measles, child, lower respiratory tract infections, chest radiography, epidemic, pathogens.

Graphical Abstract