AAP Grand Rounds 15:6-7 (2006)
© 2006 American Academy of Pediatrics
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Preschoolers’ Respiratory Illness Predicts Influenza Mortality in All Age Groups
Source: Brownstein JS, Kleinman KP, Mandl KD. Identifying pediatric age groups for influenza vaccination using a real-time regional surveillance system. Am J Epidemiol. 2005;162:686–693.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
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Investigators from the Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., analyzed respiratory illness data from 6 Massachusetts health-care systems to determine which patient age groups develop influenza the earliest and which best predict subsequent all-age mortality from influenza and pneumonia. The health care systems included 4 general emergency departments (EDs), 1 adult-only ED, 1 pediatric ED, and outpatient clinics at a large health maintenance organization. Data on respiratory illness were obtained from the presenting complaint using the authors’ validated system in the ED.1 Respiratory illness data came from physician-assigned ICD-9 codes for telephone, clinic, and urgent care in outpatient clinics. ED and outpatient clinic data were obtained between January 2000 and October 2004 via 2 real-time monitoring systems. In addition, data on influenza-like illness in Massachusetts were obtained from a national surveillance network. New England pneumonia and influenza mortality data were obtained from the CDC 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System. Temporal associations between health care encounters for respiratory illness and subsequent influenza . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Michael B. Aldous, MD, MPH, FAAP
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Pediatrics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
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Copyright © 2006 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
