Table 1.

Characteristics of patients hospitalized with acute respiratory illness at Siaya County Referral Hospital, March 2014–July 2015 (Total patient population N = 294).

Characteristics	n	%
Agea
18 to <50 years	198	67
≥50 years	96	33
Sex
Male	81	28
Female	213	72
Signs and Symptoms at admission
Any fever	117	40
≥38 °C	27	9
Subjective	114	39
Headache	110	37
Cough	257	87
Difficulty in breathing	180	61
Sore throat	43	15
Rhinorrhoea	47	16
Chest pain	128	43
Night sweats	120	41
Diarrhoea	45	15
Lethargy	111	38
Jaundice	9	3
Tachypneab	277	94
Hypoxiac	17	6
Wheeze	11	4
Stridor	27	9
Severity of disease
Length of stay
<3 days	78	26
3–7 days	128	43
>7 days	88	30
On oxygen	16	5
Death	24	8
Co-morbidity
HIV	115	39
Chronic conditions (excluding HIV)d	64	22
Asthma	16	25
Diabetes	16	25
Cardiac disease	13	20
Malaria	57	19
Health seeking behaviour
Hospitalised <5 days from onset	116	39
Hospitalised 5–10 days from onset	99	34
Hospitalised >10 days from onset	79	27

^aMedian (interquartile range) was 37 (28–56); ^bDefined as respiratory rate >= 20; ^cDefined as oxygen saturation <90% on room air; ^dPresence of any of the following: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, diabetes, chronic cardiac disease, chronic renal disease, chronic liver disease, chronic neurological impairment or any other immune compromising disease excluding HIV.