Chickenpox complications, incidence and financial burden in previously healthy children and those with an underlying disease in Ankara in the pre-vaccination period
Year: 2011
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: 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.
Institution: Ankara University
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W21255667