tailieunhanh - Do pediatric emergency departments pose a risk of infection?

There is no data documenting the existence of a risk of infection transmission in ambulatory healthcare settings but concern remains. Our objective was to determine the risk of infection associated to a pediatric Emergency Department (ED) visit and the predictors of infection in children aged 5 years and less. | Quach et al. BMC Pediatrics 2011 11 2 http 1471 -2431 11 2 BMC Pediatrics RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Do pediatric emergency departments pose a risk of infection Caroline Quach1 Dorothy Moore1 Francine Ducharme2 Dominic Chalut3 Abstract Background There is no data documenting the existence of a risk of infection transmission in ambulatory healthcare settings but concern remains. Our objective was to determine the risk of infection associated to a pediatric Emergency Department ED visit and the predictors of infection in children aged 5 years and less. Methods Children aged 5 years and less with an ED visit between February and April of a non pandemic season were recruited and followed-up by telephone interviews to ascertain the development of new respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Approximately half of the parents were called 7-10 days after their child s ED visit. The other half were called at least 14 days after the visit and served as the ED-unexposed group. The principal outcome was the onset of a new infection in the week preceding the phone interview using standardized definitions. Proportions of children with new infections were calculated in both groups and logistic regression was used to adjust for potential confounders. Results A total of 304 children mean age years were followed. Of the 137 children with a recent ED visit 21 developed an infection compared to 39 of 167 of those without a recent visit. The relative risk RR associated with ED exposure was 95 CI . As 85 children with a recent ED visit presented to the ED with a viral infection we repeated the analysis excluding them to improve our capacity to detect new infections 9 children developed an infection RR 95 CI . The only factor associated with an increased risk of infection was an intra-familial infectious contact RR 95 CI . Conclusion A visit to a pediatric ED does not result in a detectable increased risk