Time to recovery and its predictors among children age of 2 up to 59 months admitted with severe community acquired pneumonia in Public Hospitals of Central and North Gondar Zones, Ethiopia 2021.

Abstract Background: Community acquired pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. In Ethiopia considerable interventions have been taken to reduce morbidity and mortality of pneumonia in under five children, however little is known about the time to recovery and predictors among children admitted with Sever community acquired pneumonia Therefore this study aimed to identify the time to recovery and its predictors among children admitted with severe community-acquired pneumonia in public hospitals in central and north Gondar zone, Ethiopia, 2021. Method: An institutional based retrospective follow up study was conducted from January 01, 2018 to December 31, 2020. The collected data were entered in to EPI info version 7.2.1.0 then exported to STATA version 14 for analysis. Cox-ph assumption test and model fitness was checked. Variables had “p” value < 0.25 in the Bivariable analysis were entered in to multivariable Cox-regression analysis. Variables had p-value of < 0.05 were declared as statistically significant.Results: Out of the total 701 study participants about 98.15% were recovered during the follow up period and the median recovery time was 3 days with inter quartile range (IQR) of (2–5 days). Recovery rate from severe community acquired pneumonia was 26.71 ((95% CI: 24.79-28.78)) per 100 person days observation. Being rural residency (AHR=0.8; 95% CI (0.68-0.94)), admitted at primary hospital (AHR=1.43; 95% CI (1.16-1.76)), being stunted (AHR: 0.63, 95% CI (0.44–0.89)), mixed breast feeding (AHR=0.53; 95% CI (0.32-0.87)), late presenters for seeking care (AHR= 0.71: 95% CI (0.54-0.93)), presence of danger sign at admission (AHR: 0.81, 95% CI (0.68-0.97)), co-morbidity (AHR= 0.66; 95%CI (0.56-0.79)) and treatment by ampicillin and gentamicin (AHR, 0.61, (95% CI (0.40–0. 92)) were found to be significant predictors of time to recovery.Conclusions: The median recovery time was similar with other studies done in most developing countries and relatively shorter than other countries abroad. However, the recovery time varies based on the predictor variables like; co- morbidity, danger sign at admission, time of seeking care, stunting, and breast-feeding status.