Am Fam Physician. 2013;88(1):online
Clarification to WHO criteria for tachy-pnea. The article “Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Children” (October 1, 2012, p. 661) contained several errors in Table 2 (p. 662). The table title should have more clearly indicated that the table provides tachypnea thresholds for diagnosing pneumonia in the presence of cough, rather than age-based thresholds for tachypnea. Thus, the corrected table title is “World Health Organization Tachypnea Thresholds for Diagnosing Pneumonia in the Presence of Cough.” Also, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not provide tachypnea criteria for children older than five years; therefore, criteria for this age group should not have been listed. The online version of this table has been corrected, and the corrected table is reprinted below.
Age | Normal respiratory rate (breaths per minute) | Tachypnea threshold (breaths per minute) |
---|---|---|
2 to 12 months | 25 to 40 | 50 |
1 to 5 years | 20 to 30 | 40 |