Abstract: Abstract:Objective To identify the risk factors for severe acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in children and to provide scientific basis for prevention and treatment of ALRI. Methods Several databases including Pubmed, Databases- Medline (Ovid), Embase, CINAHL and Global Health Library, CNKI, VIP and Wanfang Date were searched (1990.1- 2014.12) for references. All selected studies were about risk factors of ALRI in children. The screening and quality evalua⁃tion of the literature data was conducted independently by two reviewers according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Stata 11.0 software was used for Meta-analysis. Results Meta-analysis of 27 included literature showed that seven risk fac⁃ tors were significantly associated with severe ALRI: low birth weight, lack of exclusive breastfeeding, crowded household, ex⁃ posure to indoor air pollution, malnutrition, living in a house with smokers or smoking in pregnant and HIV-exposed unin⁃ fected condition. Conclusion The above seven risk factors play the important role in the development of ALRI in children. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need for further studies investigating other potential risk factors to decrease the possibility of childhood ALRI.

Key words: respiratory tract infections, acute disease, risk factors, meta-analysis, child