HOSPITALIZATION FOR
VARICELLA IN PREVIOUSLY HEALTHY CHILDREN
García-Miguel
MJ1, Giangaspro E2, Roca J3, Moraga F4,
Baquero F1, Gómez-Campderá JA5, García-Corbeira P6,
Boceta R6, Dal-Ré R6
1La Paz Hospital, 212
de Octubre Hospital, 5Gregorio Marañón Hospital, 6Medical
Department, GlaxoSmithKline, Madrid,
3Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, 4 Vall d’Hebron Hospital.
Barcelona. Spain
Objective:
To describe hospital admissions for varicella in previously healthy
children.
Methods:
A retrospective record review of patients <16 years hospitalised for
varicella between January 1, 1990 and December 31, 1999 was conducted in
five hospitals in Spain.
Results:
During the study period a total of 446 (251 males and 195 females)
immunocompetent children were hospitalised for complicated/uncomplicated
varicella. Most frequent complications or reasons for hospitalization
associated with varicella are presented in the table.
|
Complication or
reason for hospitalization
|
N(%)
patients
|
Mean age,
years (range)
|
Mean hosp. stay,
days (range)
|
|
Skin/soft
tissue infect.
|
146
(32.7)
|
3.3
(0-11.2)
|
6.3
(0-31)
|
|
Central
Nervous system
|
77
(17.3)
|
5.3
(0.8-13.6)
|
6.8
(0-37)
|
|
Pneumonia/pneumonitis
|
51
(11.4)
|
2.7
(0.4-13.5)
|
10.3
(1-32)
|
|
Other
Respiratory
|
22
(4.9)
|
2.6
(0.2-11.5)
|
6.4
(2-19)
|
|
Thrombocytopenia
|
20
(4.5)
|
2.9
(0.1-11)
|
4.4
(1-8)
|
|
Gastrointestinal
|
18
(4.0)
|
3.8
(0.3-14)
|
3.6
(0-9)
|
|
High
fever
|
16
(3.6)
|
2.2
(0.4-6.9)
|
2.8
(0-7)
|
Conclusions: These data provide further evidence that varicella may result in
hospitalisation in otherwise healthy children and may be used for
cost-benefit analysis when
varicella universal vaccination is considered.