Clinical features and risk factors of pertussis in children

Abstract:

Objective To study the clinical features and risk factors of pertussis in children.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data and laboratory markers for immune function of 253 hospitalized children with pertussis. A total of 314 hospitalized children with cough were used as the control group. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect Bordetella pertussis DNA. The clinical data of both groups were collected to analyze the risk factors for pertussis.Results A total of 23 typical clinical parameters were compared between the pertussis and control groups, and there were significant differences in only 10 clinical parameters between the two groups (P < 0.01). As for the complications observed in the two groups, the pertussis group had a significantly lower incidence rate of myocarditis than the control group (P < 0.05). The pertussis group had significantly lower levels of serum globulin and IgM than the control group (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the pertussis group had a significantly higher proportion of children with a lack of diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus immunization or timely immunization and a contact history of suspected pertussis patients (P < 0.05). A lack of vaccine immunization or timely immunization and a contact history of suspected pertussis patients were risk factors for pertussis (P < 0.05).Conclusions The clinical features are not typical in children with pertussis. Quantitative real-time PCR for detecting Bordetella pertussis DNA helps with the early diagnosis of atypical pertussis. Infants/toddlers should be immunized in time and be isolated from suspected pertussis patients to reduce the incidence of pertussis.