Characteristics of children consulting for cough, sore throat, or earache

Uijen, Johannes H J M; Duijn, Huug J van; Kuyvenhoven, Marijke; Schellevis, François G.; Wouden, Johannes C. van der

doi:10.3399/bjgp08x279751

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Of the invited parents only 47% agreed to participate, while another 20% of the responders declined to participate owing to lack of time or to the fact that they were already participating in an investigation [9]. However, among those participating, there was a high response rate to both the questionnaire and the diariesand this boosted a high validity to the data.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitations Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The upkeep of a three-month diary is demanding and may have influenced the selection of parents. Parents from a lower social class may have had a higher use of the health care system, but results according to consultations pattern based on social class are conflicting [9].…”

Section: Strengths and Limitations Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research exploring the influences health-care utility and illness experiences in infancy have on later susceptibility to illness is rare [9][10][11]. No single factor (except immune defects) is yet known to predict frequent illness in later life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Being frequently ill may be due to an inherent fragility combined with the interactions of the environment in which the infant lives [4,[16][17][18]. Even if the GP could act as a key person to these children/families by diagnosing the problem, useful clinical interventions targeting the etiology and treatment are underdeveloped, at least when the common infections are involved [7,9]. Understanding the usefulness of parents' own experiences of the illnesses and their interpretation is fundamental in the consultation [2,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Health care experiences in infancy and subsequent frequent illness in 1-year-old children

Ertmann¹,

Siersma²,

Reventlow³

2013

Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Parents of infants suffering from frequent episodes of illness demand more acknowledgement from general practice with regard to their observations of these illnesses, which is evident from their tendency to book multiple consultations. Aim: To identify factors relating to illness and health-care experiences in infancy which predict frequent episodes of illness in toddlers. Design of study: A retrospective questionnaire and a prospective diary study including 183 infants born in February 2001 in a district of the capital region of Denmark. Setting: Denmark, primary care. Methods: Infants were recruited from a birth cohort and experiences of illness from birth until the age of 11 months were collected using a questionnaire. Thereafter the infants were followed prospectively from the age of 11 to 14 months using diary cards. The diary data consisted of 1) selected symptoms, 2) doctor-contacts and 3) parent-rated illness severity, information used to form three aspects of a frequently ill child. The analyses explore associations from the infant data with the three indicators of frequent illness. Results: Experiences of restless sleep, earache, otitis media, penicillin usage and use of medicine associated with illness in infancy were highly associated with factors of excess illness during the follow up period. Disturbed sleep in infancy was the factor with the highest probability of frequent illness as a toddler-an unexpected finding. Experiences of acute otitis media (earache, frequent visits to the doctor and antibiotic treatment) were strongly related to frequent illnesses. Asthma or giving the child medicine correlated with a higher parent-rated frequency of illness later on. Conclusions: Sleep problems in infancy can predict frequent illness episodes later on. In clinical practice the GP may benefit from talking about sleep in the consultations in order to learn something more. The three different indicators of frequent illness applied to different aspects of being a frequently ill child.

show abstract

Section: Strengths and Limitations Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Strengths and Limitations Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Health care experiences in infancy and subsequent frequent illness in 1-year-old children

Ertmann¹,

Siersma²,

Reventlow³

2013

Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For an acute cough, parental anxiety or the fact of living in a city are associated with a more frequent consultation rate [9]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prolonged Cough in Pediatric Population First Line Care, Belgian Guidelines

Leconte¹,

Valentin²,

Dromelet³

et al. 2017

TORMJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background:The clinical approach to a prolonged cough, i.e. a cough lasting more than three weeks, is challenging for general practitioners as well for primary care pediatricians. What the recommended clinical approach in primary care is, how cough duration or cough characteristics impact the diagnosis, and what the efficiency and safety of antibiotics or symptomatic treatments are remain in question for primary care physicians.Objective:The last Belgian guidelines were published in 2006 and needed to be reviewed. Those background questions were used to conduct our guideline updating procedure.Methods:We systematically performed a pyramidal literature search between the periods 2006-2014 in order to write evidence based guidelines. The data of the literature was summarized, discussed by the authors, experts and the Belgian primary care guidelines committee. Recommendations were formulated and scored following the GRADE classification.Results:The consultation history as well as the physical examination should be directed towards searching for warning signs (GRADE 1B) and towards the common etiologies depending on cough duration (GRADE 2C). If the cough lasts for more than eight weeks, chest radiography and spirometry should be considered (GRADE 2C). An antibiotic is recommended for a prolonged wet cough (over eight weeks) if prolonged bacterial bronchitis is suspected (GRADE 1B). In the absence of clinical signs of a specific etiology of a cough, no drug can be recommended (GRADE 1B). For all cases, it is initially suggested to avoid irritants (GRADE 1C) as well as to take into account the concerns of parents and inform them about the natural development of a cough.Conclusions:More research is needed to provide evidence on the clinical pathway on prolonged cough for primary care. Cough duration of more than eight weeks and prolonged wet cough are the most useful cough characteristics. Regarding a specific cough treatment, no medication has proved any effect greater than placebo. Attention to environmental triggers and patient-centered care remain the keystones of interventions

show abstract