Predictors of severe H1N1 infection in children - new Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN) study

August 2013: A new study from the Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN) was published in the British Medical Journal. The international research team, which includes researchers in the TREKK network, examined 265 pediatric cases from the 2009 global influenza pandemic. This involved 79 emergency departments in 12 countries.

The team identified risk factors that may help clinicians identify children at risk of severe outcomes when presenting with influenza-like illness during a pandemic. Risk factors included findings from premorbid history (chronic lung disease, cerebral palsy/developmental delay) and physiology/physical examination (requirement for oxygen, tachycardia relative to age, presence of chest retractions, signs of dehydration).

View the story  on CTV Winnipeg news, with comments from Dr Terry Klassen:  http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=984474

Publication: Predictors of severe H1N1 infection in children presenting within Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN): retrospective case-control study