Well-child visits increased risk for subsequent influenza-like illnesses

Well-child visits are associated with an increase in influenza-like illness among children and family members within 2 weeks of the visit, according to recent study findings published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

“Well-child visits are critically important,” Philip M. Polgreen, MD, MPH, of the departments of internal medicine and epidemiology at the University of Iowa, said in a press release. “However, our results demonstrate that health care professionals should devote more attention to reducing the risk of spreading infections in waiting rooms and clinics. Infection control guidelines currently exist. To increase patient safety in outpatient settings, more attention should be paid to these guidelines by health care professions, patients and their families.”

Polgreen and colleagues evaluated health care trends of 84,595 families from 1996 to 2008 to determine whether a child’s well-child visit was a risk factor for influenza-like illness within a family.

Researchers found that well-child visits for children younger than 6 years increased the probably of an influenza-like illness occurring in the child or their families during the following 2 weeks by 3.2%. The risk amounted to more than 700,000 avoidable cases of influenza-like illnesses each year and $492 million in direct and indirect costs.

The researchers also said infection prevention and control are important in ambulatory settings and guidelines should be followed, including those that improve environmental cleaning, cough etiquette and hand-hygiene compliance.

“Even with interventions, such as the restricted use of communal toys or separate sick and well-child waiting areas, if hand-hygiene compliance is poor, and potentially infectious patients are not wearing masks, preventable infections with continue to occur,” Polgreen said.

In an accompanying editorial, Lisa Saiman, MD, MPH, of the department of pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, wrote, “The true cost of flu-like illnesses are much higher since only a fraction result in ambulatory visits and many more cases are likely to result in missed work or school days.”

“Furthermore, these flu-like illness visits are associated with inappropriate antimicrobial use,” Saiman wrote.

For more information:

Saiman L. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2014;doi:10.1086/675349.

Simmering JE. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2014;doi:10.1086/675281.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.