Demographics and microbiological profile of pneumonia in United Arab Emirates.

BACKGROUND: Pneumonia is a common respiratory disease, which has a mortality rate of approximately 14% worldwide. The management of pneumonia is based on the patient and microbiological profile existing in the community. There is a paucity of data regarding patient demographics and the microbiological profile for pneumonia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of in-patients with pneumonia in the UAE. Epidemiological, clinical and microbiological data was collected from patients over the age of 16 years admitted to a single university hospital with a diagnosis of pneumonia between the years 1997 and 2002. Patients were categorised as having community acquired (CAP) or hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP). RESULTS: Among the 361 patients, 186 were females and 175 males. The mean age (+/- SEM) of the males was 59 +/- 1.6 years and of the females, 56.9 +/- 1.5 years. The annual hospital admission rate for pneumonia increased from 410 per million population in 1997 to 760 in 2002. The pneumonia was community acquired in 289 (80%) and hospital acquired in 72 (20%). Hospitalisation for CAP showed a significant seasonal variation with peak admission rates in March and April and the nadir in August and September. The overall mortality rate was 13%, and was significantly higher for HAP (24%) than for CAP (10%, p < 0.01). The common microorganisms isolated from sputum culture in CAP were Haemophilus influenzae (18.6%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (10%). The common pathogen in HAP was Pseudomonas aeruginosa in (50%). 4 out of 17 (23%) H. influenzae isolates were resistant to amoxicillin and 2 of 9 S. pneumoniae isolates (22%) were resistant to penicillin. CONCLUSIONS: The hospitalisation rate for CAP has increased over the years and showed a clear seasonal trend in the UAE. H. influenzae was the most common organism among patients with CAP and P. aeruginosa in HAP. The mortality rate for HAP was significantly higher than for CAP. The drug resistance pattern was similar to reports from centres elsewhere in South East Asia.

Screening for language delay in the United Arab Emirates.

BACKGROUND: Developmental language delay (DLD) is frequent among two- and three-year-olds but little is known about this condition in the Arabian Peninsula. This paper forms part of a multipurpose community psychiatric survey conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The findings regarding the prevalence and psychosocial correlates of DLD are reported here. METHODS: A total of 694 children, representative of the UAE 3-year-old population were screened using the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) and the language screening procedure as used by Westerlund and Sundelin. RESULTS: Of the 694 children screened for DLD at 3 years of age, 69 children (9.9%; CI 7.8-12.4) were found to have delays in the language sector of DDST. A total of 45 (6.5%; CI 4.3-8.7) were identified as having general language disability, both in comprehension and expression as per the language screening procedure. Language delay was found to be associated with rural living, mother being from a different nationality, non-involvement of domestic help in child care, family history of language delay, obstetric and perinatal problems and presence of behavioural problems in the child. Using stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis, two factors emerged as important with regard to general language delay, which were previous non-UAE nationality of the mother and total monthly income of the family. CONCLUSION: The pattern and correlates of DLD found in this survey are in line with those reported by other surveys, but some unique socio-cultural risk factors specific to this community were identified. The implications of these findings to screening and referral for further evaluation and intervention are discussed.