Screening for pectus excavatum among primary students and establishment of a pectus excavatum screening program in Dongguan, China.

Abstract

To carry out pectus excavatum (PEx) screening among primary school students in Dongguan, with an attempt to establish a PEx screening program and provide epidemiological evidences for developing guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of PEx for young children. A total of 479,402 primary school students who were already in school in 2012 or newly enrolled in 2013 from 422 primary schools in 32 towns in Dongguan, Guangdong Province were screened for PEx. Meanwhile, about 420 medical staff from the infirmaries of 422 primary schools were provided with a serial of training, with an attempt to establish a PEx screening program and network. Valid screening results were obtained from 477,627 pupils (99.62%) from 406 primary schools in 31 towns. These students aged 4-15 years (mean: 8.78 years), among whom there were 244,545 males (N1; mean age: 8.22 years) and 233,082 females (N2; mean age: 8.89 years). Totally 257 PEx patients were identified, yielding a prevalence of 0.583%, among whom there were 176 males (N3; mean age: 8.79 years) and 81 females (N4; mean age: 8.77 years). With the PEx patients as the PEx group and the healthy children as the control group, chi square test with gender as the dependent variable showed that the incidence of PEx was significantly different between male and female students (P=0.00) (N3:N4 =2.172:1). In addition, 410 medical staff from the school infirmaries were trained, and a PEx screening program and network was established. The screening for PEx was successfully performed among pupils who were already in school in 2012 or newly enrolled in 2013 from 422 primary schools in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. Statistical analysis showed that the incidence of PEx differed between male and female pupils. A stable effective PEx screening program was established, which will provide personal and technical supports for the early diagnosis and treatment of this condition.