Seasonal variation in general pediatrics.

Schrijver, T.V. (Vera) (2014) Seasonal variation in general pediatrics. thesis, Medicine.

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Abstract

Background. Seasonal variation is a common phenomenon in pediatrics, especially for infectious diseases and asthma. However no survey to date exists displaying an overview of seasonal variation in all fields of pediatrics, in temperate zones of the Northern hemisphere. An overview of seasonal variation may serve as a guidance for the investigation on pathophysiology of disease may be helpful in department organization and workforce planning, leading to best use of resources. Aim. Analysis of the extent of seasonal variation of all pediatric disease categories in a pediatrics department of a large general hospital in the Netherlands. Study design. Retrospective study. Methods. The Dutch diagnostic coding system was used to categorize diagnoses of all newly referred patients (0 – 18 years) to the Amalia Children’s center of Isala, over a six-years period (2008 – 2013). Diseases were categorized into 25 diagnosis-categories. Data were analyzed using simple moving averages, the monthly variation as the percentage deviation from the mean and the standard error of the mean (standard deviation/(√n)). We defined seasonal variation as a visually recognizable pattern of similar periodic processes seen in every year in combination with a standard error of the mean ≥ 0.20. Results. 51 054 newly referred patients were included. Five categories fulfilled our definition of seasonality: respiratory tract infections (peak in January, +107.0%), gastroenteritis (peak in February-March, +95.8% and +112.9% respectively), functional complaints (Peak in March, +34.0%, and November, +13.4%, nadir in August, -36.9%), asthma (peak in March, +27.8%, and October, +17.5%, nadir in July, -39.0%) and behavioral disorders (peak in February-March, +17.1% and +17,5% respectively, nadir in August, -20.5%). These categories are responsible for more than one-quarter (27.1%) of all newly referred patients. Conclusion. More than one-quarter of all pediatric patients is subject to seasonal variation, which underlines the importance of this epidemiological component. We demonstrated not only seasonal variation for respiratory tract infections, gastroenteritis and asthma, but also for functional complaints and behavioral disorders. We hypothesize seasonality of these disease-categories arises from school-related stress and other stress influences.

Item Type:	Thesis (Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Bekhof, dr. J. and Amalia Children’s Center and Isala, Zwolle
Faculty:	Medical Sciences
Date Deposited:	25 Jun 2020 11:07
Last Modified:	25 Jun 2020 11:07
URI:	https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2717

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