Objective: The study aims to describe the clinical characteristics, etiologic agents, and radiographic patterns of children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia after the end of COVID-19 pandemic.

Material and Method: The retrospective study included patients aged 1 month to 18 years with community-acquired pneumonia and received inpatient treatment in the pediatric infectious diseases ward of Şanlıurfa Training and Research Hospital between March 2022 and April 2023. We recorded sociodemographic characteristics, clinical findings, laboratory test results, radiographic findings, culture growth, and results of nasopharyngeal respiratory tract panel polymerase chain reaction tests of patients.

Results: Among the 149 patients diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia, 61.1% (n =91) were male. The median age was 2 years, with an interquartile range (IQR) of 0.5-7 years. Laboratory findings included the following: white blood cell count of 13 330/mm³ (IQR: 9 160-17 060), C-reactive protein (CRP) level of 22.5 mg/L (IQR: 2.8-73.8), hemoglobin level of 11.4 g/dL (IQR: 10.1-12.6), and platelet count of 377 000/µL (IQR: 277 000-486 500). Patients with consolidation had significantly higher absolute neutrophil counts and CRP levels compared with those with other infiltrates (p <0.05).

Conclusion: Accurately identifying the cause of pneumonia in children requires a combination of laboratory techniques and interpretation of clinical features, physical examination, and radiographic findings. Lack of consolidation on chest radiography, absence of neutrophil predominance in white blood cells, and negative acute phase reactants may indicate the viral etiology of pneumonia. This information is essential for antimicrobial stewardship and reducing drug resistance by avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use.