Table 4. Diagnoses and treatments assigned to children aged 2–59 months presenting with respiratory symptoms in low-, middle-, and high-income, primary care settings.
| n (column %) | VURTIc | Pneumonia | Tonsillitis | Bronchitisf | Bronchiolitis | Asthma | Malaria | Other diagnosisd | No diagnosis | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Greece n = 72 |
Antibiotics | 10 (33.3) | 1 (100) | 1 (100) | 6 (46.2) | - | - | - | 2 (40.0) | 3 (23.1) | 23 (31.9) |
| Antivirals and cough medicinea | 4 (13.3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 (7.7) | 5 (6.9) | |
| SABA | 5 (16.7) | - | - | 11 (84.6) | 5 (71.4) | 2 (100) | - | - | 4 (30.8) | 27 (37.5) | |
| Corticosteroidsb | 3 (10.0) | - | - | 5 (38.5) | 2 (28.6) | - | - | - | 3 (23.1) | 13 (18.1) | |
| Supportive treatmente | 1 (3.3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 (20.0) | 1 (7.7) | 3 (4.2) | |
| No treatment | 8 (26.7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 (20.0) | 2 (15.4) | 11 (15.3) | |
| Total (row %) | 30 (41.7) [0] | 1 (1.4) [0] | 1 (1.4) [0] | 13 (18.1) [0] | 7 (9.7) [0] | 2 (2.8) [0] | 0 (0) [0] | 5 (6.9) [0] | 13 (18.1) [0] | 72 [0] | |
|
Kyrgyzstan n = 239 |
Antibiotics | 80 (52.6) | 1 (50.0) | 9 (100) | 28 (59.6) | - | - | - | 16 (69.6) | - | 134 (56.1) |
| Antivirals and cough medicinea | 71 (46.7) | - | 2 (22.2) | 21 (44.7) | - | - | - | 6 (26.1) | - | 100 (41.8) | |
| SABA | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Corticosteroidsb | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Supportive treatmente | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| No treatment | 2 (1.3) | 1 (50.0) | - | 1 (2.1) | - | - | - | 1 (4.4) | 1 (16.7) | 6 (2.5) | |
| Total (row %) | 152 (63.6) [0] | 2 (0.8) [0] | 9 (3.8) [0] | 28 (19.7) [0] | 0 (0) [0] | 0 (0) [0] | 0 (0) [0] | 23 (9.6) [0] | 6 (2.5) [0] | 239 [0] | |
|
Vietnam n = 239 |
Antibiotics | 102 (63.8) | 6 (100) | 3 (100) | 32 (88.9) | 12 (70.6) | 1 (50.0) | - | - | - | 160 (67.0) |
| Antivirals and cough medicinea | 135 (84.4) | 3 (50.0) | 2 (66.7) | 26 (72.2) | 11 (64.7) | 1 (50.0) | - | - | - | 181 (75.7) | |
| SABA | 5 (3.1) | 4 (66.7) | 1 (33.3) | 22 (61.1) | 12 (70.6) | 1 (50.0) | - | - | - | 47 (19.7) | |
| Corticosteroidsb | 4 (2.5) | 1 (16.7) | - | 5 (13.9) | 3 (17.7) | - | - | - | - | 13 (5.4) | |
| Supportive treatmente | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| No treatment | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Total (row %) | 160 (67.0) [2] | 6 (2.5) [0] | 3 (1.3) [0] | 36 (15.1) [1] | 17 (7.1) [1] | 2 (0.8) [0] | 0 (0) [0] | 0 (0) [0] | 0 (0) [0] | 239 [12] | |
|
Uganda n = 221 |
Antibiotics | 22 (22.9) | 14 (38.9) | - | - | 4 (57.1) | - | 20 (55.6) | 5 (50.0) | 4 (16.0) | 73 (33.0) |
| Antivirals and cough medicinea | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| SABA | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Corticosteroidsb | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 (2.8) | - | - | 1 (0.5) | |
| Supportive treatmente | 44 (45.8) | 8 (22.2) | - | - | 3 (42.9) | - | 9 (25.0) | 1 (5.6) | 1 (4.0) | 66 (29.9) | |
| No treatment | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Total (row %) | 96 (43.4) [0] | 36 (16.3) [0] | 0 (0) [0] | 2 (0.9) [0] | 7 (3.2) [0] | 1 (0.5) [0] | 36 (16.3) [0] | 18 (8.1) [0] | 25 (11.3) [0] | 221 [0] | |
|
Total N = 771 |
Antibiotics | 214 (48.9) | 22 (48.9) | 13 (100) | 66 (67.4) | 16 (51.6) | 1 (20.0) | 20 (55.6) | 27 (58.7) | 7 (15.9) | 390 (50.6) |
| Antivirals and cough medicinea | 210 (48.0) | 3 (6.7) | 4 (30.8) | 47 (48.0) | 11 (35.5) | 1 (20.0) | - | 6 (13.0) | 1 (2.3) | 286 (37.1) | |
| SABA | 10 (2.3) | 4 (8.9) | 1 (7.7) | 33 (33.7) | 17 (54.8) | 3 (60.0) | - | - | 4 (9.1) | 74 (9.6) | |
| Corticosteroidsb | 7 (1.6) | 1 (2.2) | - | 10 (10.2) | 5 (16.1) | - | 1 (2.8) | - | 3 (6.8) | 27 (3.5) | |
| Supportive treatmente | 45 (10.3) | 8 (17.8) | - | - | 3 (9.7) | - | 9 (25.0) | 2 (4.4) | 2 (4.6) | 69 (9.0) | |
| No treatment | 10 (2.3) | 1 (2.2) | - | 1 (1.0) | - | - | - | 2 (4.4) | 3 (6.8) | 17 (2.2) | |
| Total (row %) | 438 (56.8) [2] | 45 (5.8) [0] | 13 (1.7) [0] | 98 (12.7) [1] | 31 (4.0) [1] | 5 (0.7) [0] | 36 (4.7) [0] | 46 (6.0) [0] | 44 (5.7) [0] | 771 [12] |
SABA: Short acting β-agonist, VURTI: Viral upper respiratory tract infection. Numbers in [] represent data that is either missing or question not asked by healthcare professional.
aIncluding cough medicine.
b Inhaled or oral.
c Consisting of children with the following diagnoses according to health professional report: acute respiratory tract infection, cold, coryza, flu, nasopharyngitis, pharyngitis, respiratory tract infection, upper respiratory tract infection, viral infection.
d Other diagnoses: e.g. croup, otitis, scarlet fever, stomatitis aphtosa, tracheitis, diarrhea.
e Supportive treatment: e.g. paracetamol, ibuprofen, antihistamines, fluids, and in Uganda also artemether/lumefantrine, mebendazole, vitamin A.
f Including bronchitis diagnoses with a variety of prefixes, e.g. acute, obstructive, allergic.