Frequency of bronchopneumonia in children with survival interval before death

Many children do not survive after presentation in extremis. Some survive varying intervals and are found to have bronchopneumonia at death. The question is raised whether bronchopneumonia is a consequence of survival rather than the initiating disease leading to collapse. A prospective study of the deaths of 156 children divided them into two groups: 80 children with head injury and 76 with causes of death other than sudden infant death syndrome. In 43 of the total group of children, bronchopneumonia was found. In the total group, 76 survived more than a day. Of these 39 had bronchopneumonia, 32 died of head injury, and 7 had other causes of death. Of the children surviving less than a day, 4 had bronchopneumonia at death--only 1 with head injury. If bronchopneumonia is present, it is more likely to have developed after the collapse than to have caused it in this population.