Chickenpox complications, incidence and financial burden in previously healthy children and those with an underlying disease in Ankara in the pre-vaccination period

The aim of this study was to determine the complications, financial burden and mortality caused by chickenpox using the data of Ankara, Turkey in the pre-vaccination period. The study was conducted as a retrospective sectional study. Of the 65 patients admitted to our hospital, 34 (52.3%) had...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Halil Ozdemir, Mehmet Onur Candir, Adem Karbuz, Nurşen Belet, Anil Tapisiz, Ergin Ciftçi, Erdal Ince
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hacettepe University Institute of Child Health 2011-12-01
Series:The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
Online Access:https://turkjpediatr.org/article/view/1831
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Summary:The aim of this study was to determine the complications, financial burden and mortality caused by chickenpox using the data of Ankara, Turkey in the pre-vaccination period. The study was conducted as a retrospective sectional study. Of the 65 patients admitted to our hospital, 34 (52.3%) had been previously healthy, 10 (15.4%) had previous chronic disease and 21 (32.3%) were immunocompromised. The most common complications of chickenpox in those patient groups were skin and soft tissue infections (41.2%), hematological complications (50%) and gastrointestinal complications (38.1%), respectively. We found 10.6/100,000 and 8.7/100,000 rates of hospitalization due to chickenpox in Ankara for all children and for previously healthy children, respectively. The chickenpox-related mortality rate for the 0-17 age group was 3.03/1,000,000 in Ankara. In conclusion, we feel that a national vaccination program for chickenpox will lead to a significant decrease in the overall cost to our country.
ISSN:0041-4301
2791-6421