Risk Factors of Community Acquired Pneumonia among Adults in Tigray, Ethiopia: A Case-control Study

Introduction: Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is an acute disease which represents a common cause of hospital admission and mortality. However, little is known about the risk factors and other related issues in sub-Saharan Africa including Ethiopia. Aim: To identify the risk factors of community acquired pneumonia among adults in Tigray, Ethiopia. Materials and Methods: Unmatched case-control study design was used and 120 cases and 240 controls were participated. Cases were patients with CAP, while controls were patients without the problem. A questionnaire was used to collect the data and analysed by SPSS version 20.0. Associations between variables were determined using bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Odds Ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval was calculated to measure the strength of associations. Result: The results revealed that working in a dusty environment {OR (95% CI); 2 (1.1, 4.1)}, history of respiratory infection {OR (95% CI); 2.3 (1.5, 5.7)}, contact with people who had respiratory infection {OR (95% CI); 2.5 (1.2, 5.3)} and previous history of pneumonia confirmed by radiograph {OR (95% CI); 39 (19.4, 78.6)} were significantly associated variables to CAP. Conclusion: The common risk factors of CAP included working in a dusty environment, having a history of pneumonia, history of respiratory infection and having contact with people who had respiratory infections as seen in this study. Hence, measures have to be taken to prevent and properly treat the problem.