Extremity pain and refusal to walk in children with invasive meningococcal disease

被引:17
作者
Inkelis, SH
O'Leary, D
Wang, VJ
Malley, R
Nicholson, MK
Kuppermann, N
机构
[1] Harbor UCLA Med Ctr, Dept Emergency Med, Torrance, CA 90509 USA
[2] Harbor UCLA Med Ctr, Dept Pediat, Torrance, CA 90509 USA
[3] Childrens Hosp Los Angeles, Dept Pediat, Div Emergency & Transport Med, Los Angeles, CA 90027 USA
[4] Harvard Univ, Sch Med, Dept Pediat, Div Emergency Med, Boston, MA 02115 USA
[5] Harvard Univ, Sch Med, Dept Pediat, Div Infect Dis, Boston, MA 02115 USA
[6] Univ Calif Davis, Sch Med, Dept Internal Med, Div Emergency Med, Davis, CA 95616 USA
[7] Univ Calif Davis, Sch Med, Dept Pediat, Davis, CA 95616 USA
关键词
meningococcal infections; fever; bacteremia; myalgia; limp;
D O I
10.1542/peds.110.1.e3
中图分类号
R72 [儿科学];
学科分类号
100202 ;
摘要
Objective. Early recognition of invasive meningococcal disease in children may be difficult. Extremity pain and refusal to walk (extremity symptoms) are uncommonly mentioned as clinical findings in children who present with this disease. We sought to determine 1) the frequency of extremity symptoms as part of the clinical presentation in children with invasive meningococcal disease and 2) whether these symptoms help identify children with otherwise unsuspected meningococcal disease. Methods. We reviewed the medical records of patients who were younger than 20 years and had invasive meningococcal disease from 1985 to 1996 at 3 pediatric referral centers. Children with extremity symptoms were identified and described. We compared clinical and laboratory findings and frequency of adverse outcomes between these children and those with invasive meningococcal disease without extremity symptoms. Results. We identified 274 children with invasive meningococcal disease, 45 (16%) of whom had either history or physical examination evidence of extremity pain (31) or refusal to walk (14) as part of their clinical presentations. Five of the 45 patients had arthritis at the time of presentation. Patients with extremity symptoms at presentation were significantly older (77.9 +/- 62.2 vs 44.0 +/- 56.9 months), had lower temperatures (38.8 +/- 1.2degreesC vs 39.2 +/- 1.2degreesC), and had higher band counts (28.2 +/- 15.2% vs 18.1 +/- 12.4%) than did patients without extremity symptoms. There were no significant differences, however, between groups with regard to rash, white blood cell counts, coagulation parameters, prevalence of meningitis, or adverse outcomes. Seventy-three (27%) of the 274 patients had unsuspected disease, and 5 (7%) of these had extremity symptoms at the time of diagnosis. Conclusions. Sixteen percent of children with invasive meningococcal disease have extremity symptoms at the time of diagnosis. These symptoms may help to identify some patients with otherwise unsuspected invasive meningococcal disease.
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