How serious is pneumonia in children?

There will always be diseases appearing in our lives, and we must comprehensively detect diseases, especially the occurrence of pneumonia, which will also affect children's health. People must also promptly understand some of the serious hazards. So, how serious is the harm of pneumonia to children? Let's answer with experts below.

Heart damage. Common symptoms include toxic myocarditis and heart failure. The symptoms of heart failure in infants and young children are not as typical as those in adults, and the hypoxia caused by pneumonia itself can increase the heart rate and breathing, which is easy to misdiagnose. Heart failure can easily cause death in infants and young children.

Therefore, if the child shows a sudden increase in dyspnea, irritability, pale or severe cyanosis, and a heart rate of more than 160-180 beats/minute, which cannot be explained by increased body temperature and dyspnea, the possibility of heart failure should be considered. Brain damage. Mild hypoxia in children will show irritability or drowsiness, and severe hypoxia can lead to cerebral edema and toxic encephalopathy. It manifests as staring or rolling eyes, confusion, even convulsions, coma, irregular breathing rhythm, etc., and finally death from respiratory failure.

Gastrointestinal damage. Mild cases may cause loss of appetite, vomiting, and diarrhea in children. Severe cases may cause vomiting of coffee-like substances or even bloody stools (caused by gastrointestinal mucosal bleeding). In case of poisoning paralysis, there is obvious abdominal distension, which causes the diaphragm to rise and compress the lungs, causing breathing difficulties and making hypoxia more severe, creating a vicious cycle.

From this point of view, pediatric diseases pose a great threat to the health of infants and young children. If a disease occurs, we must discover it as soon as possible and come up with a solution after actively and comprehensively understanding it.