The etiological structure of diseases in frequently ill children depending on age

Abstract

The urgency of the problem of frequently ill children is associated with a significant number of patients who can be assigned to this category. Objective: to present the nosological and etiological structure of diseases in frequently ill children depending on age. Subjects and methods. 243 children aged 1 to 17 years with recurrent respiratory infections were followed up. The children were examined using routine clinical, laboratory, and instrumental examinations. The etiological diagnosisincluded bacteriological examination of the upperrespiratory tract microflora; determination of IgM and IgG antibodies against Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Epstein–Barr virus(EBV), and cytomegalovirus(CMV) in blood by enzyme immunoassay and that of Chlamydia and Mycoplasma DNA in pharyngealswabs and that of CMV, EBV and human herpesvirustype 6 DNA in blood by polymerase chain reaction. Results. Recurrentrespiratory diseases were found to be associated with herpesvirusinfection in 75% of the children aged 1 to 6 years, with Streptococcus, Mycoplasma, and Chlamydia infections in 16, 10, and 4% of those aged 3 to 6 years, respectively, and to be accompanied by abnormal lymphoid tissue proliferation in 84% of the children aged 3 to 6 years, with the abundant growth of bacterial opportunistic pathogensin one half of the patients. Despite the continuing importance of infectious agents(herpesviruses and streptococci in 29 and 20%, respectively), the chronically ill school-aged children displayed a high incidence of somatic diseases: chronic tonsillitis (43%) and chronic sinusitis (14%) in children aged older than 12 years and allergic rhinitis (23%) in those aged 7 to 17 years. The symptoms of autonomic vascular dystonia were observed in 21% of the patients; cardiac arrhythmias were diagnosed in 14%.