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Proposed epidemiological case definition for serious skin infection in children

Cathryn E O'Sullivan1, Michael G Baker

  • 1Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Wellington South, New Zealand.

Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
|January 29, 2010
PubMed

Insights

A new, broader case definition for serious pediatric skin infections improves accuracy. This enhanced definition captures more cases, providing better estimates of the true burden of these rising infections.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric infectious diseases
  • Epidemiology
  • Public health surveillance

Background:

  • Serious skin infections in children are increasing.
  • Current research is hampered by inconsistent case definitions.
  • A validated case definition is crucial for accurate surveillance and research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and evaluate a robust case definition for serious pediatric skin infections.
  • To improve the accuracy of research and surveillance data.
  • To address limitations of existing case definitions.

Main Methods:

  • Evaluated existing and proposed case definitions for pediatric skin infections.
  • Utilized chart review data from a New Zealand hospital over 4 years.
  • Assessed the screening performance (sensitivity and specificity) of different definitions.

Main Results:

  • The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) definition showed high specificity (100%) but low sensitivity (61%).
  • The ICD definition missed atypical infections, secondary infections, and those as additional diagnoses.
  • A new, broader definition achieved 98.9% sensitivity and 98.8% specificity.

Conclusions:

  • Existing case definitions underestimate the true incidence of serious pediatric skin infections.
  • The proposed broader case definition offers improved validity and comparability for future studies.
  • This enhanced definition will enable more accurate burden of disease estimation for these infections.
Abstract

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