OBJECTIVES: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a potentially lethal lower respiratory tract infection for children. For this reason,early recognition and appropriate treatment is essential. In addition, we need to determine which patient will be hospitalized or nothospitalized. Here, we aimed to evaluate the plasma endocan level to determine whether it is effective in making the decision on hospitalization and the assessment of the response to treatment in patients with CAP.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective case-control study was conducted between November 2015 and May 2016 at ErciyesUniversity School of Medicine. Fifty-three patients diagnosed as CAP with clinical and radiological findings were enrolled in the study.The patients were divided into various subgroups, such as inpatient, outpatient, complicated, non-complicated, dead patients, etc., andthe levels of endocan were compared between the control group and those various groups.RESULTS: A total of 53 children with a diagnosis of CAP and 55 healthy children were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided intotwo groups: hospitalized patients and outpatients. There was no statistically significant difference between these groups’serum endocanlevels on the 1st day and serum endocan levels on the 4th day (p=0.783, p=0.419).CONCLUSION: Serum endocan level had no significant value in predicting patients’ hospitalization. On the other hand, high serumendocrine levels may be important in predicting the severity and prognosis of the disease.