Reye Syndrome in Children Less than 1 Year Old: Some Epidemiologic Observations

Abstract

Much of the epidemiology of Reye syndrome is still not well understood, particularly in the age group <1 year of age. Huttenlocher and Trauner1 recently reported the clinical findings in a series of patients <6 months of age. They noted that a disproportionate number of infants came from lower socioeconomic areas. A 1973 to 1977 epidemiologic study of Reye syndrome in Ohio by the Ohio State Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has shown different age-specific attack rates for black children and for white children.2 Although the overall attack rates of Reye syndrome for black and for white children were not significantly different, among children <1 year old, black children had a rate of Reye syndrome approximately eight times the rate for whites.