A Retrospective Chart Review of Pediatric Complicated Community-Acquired Pneumonia: An Experience in the Al Qassimi Women and Children Hospital.

Background Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most common global health issues. Even though many vaccinations and new diagnostic tools are available, CAP has a higher mortality rate, especially in children less than five years of age. Complicated CAP (CCAP) in a healthy child is a severe disease characterized by a combination of local complications, such as parapneumonic effusion (PPE), empyema (EMP), necrotizing pneumonia (NP), abscess, pneumothorax, and bronchopleural fistula, and systemic complications, such as bacteremia, metastatic infection, multiorgan failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and, rarely, death.