This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (52)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Viral Infections  • Quality of Life  • Infectious Diseases  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Effect on School Absenteeism, Parental Absenteeism From Work, and Secondary Illness in Families

Kathleen M. Neuzil, MD, MPH; Cynthia Hohlbein, RN; Yuwei Zhu, MD, MS

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156:986-991.

Background  High attack rates of Influenzavirus among school-aged children tend to be expected to cause significant disruption of usual activities at school and at home.

Objective  To quantify the effect of influenza season on illness episodes, school absenteeism, medication use, parental absenteeism from work, and the occurrence of secondary illness in families among a cohort of children enrolled in an elementary school during the 2000-2001 influenza season.

Design  Prospective survey study.

Setting  Kindergarten through eighth grade elementary school in Seattle, Wash.

Patients or Other Participants  All children enrolled in the school were eligible for the study. Study participants were 313 children in 216 families.

Main Outcome Measures  The primary outcome measure was missed school days. Secondary outcomes measures included total illness episodes, febrile illness episodes, medication usage, physician visits, parental workdays missed, and secondary illnesses among family members of children in the study cohort. Differences between the rates of study events among participants when influenza was circulating and the event rates during the winter season when influenza was not circulating were used to calculate influenza-attributable excess events.

Results  Total illness episodes, febrile illness episodes, analgesic use, school absenteeism, parental industrial absenteeism, and secondary illness among family members were significantly higher during influenza season compared with the noninfluenza winter season. For every 100 children followed up for this influenza season, which included 37 school days, an excess 28 illness episodes and 63 missed school days occurred. Similarly, for every 100 children followed up, influenza accounted for an estimated 20 days of work missed by the parents and 22 secondary illness episodes among family members.

Conclusion  Influenza season has significant adverse effects on the quality of life of school-aged children and their families.

From the Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine (Dr Neuzil) and the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System (Dr Neuzil and Ms Hohlbein), Seattle; and the Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn (Dr Zhu).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Seasonal Influenza: An Overview
Li and Freedman
The Journal of School Nursing 2009;25:4S-12S.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Additional Visit Burden for Universal Influenza Vaccination of US School-Aged Children and Adolescents
Rand et al.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2008;162:1048-1055.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Reducing Absenteeism From Gastrointestinal and Respiratory Illness in Elementary School Students: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of an Infection-Control Intervention
Sandora et al.
Pediatrics 2008;121:e1555-e1562.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Mass Distribution of Free, Intranasally Administered Influenza Vaccine in a Public School System
Carpenter et al.
Pediatrics 2007;120:e172-e178.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Effectiveness of School-Based Influenza Vaccination
King et al.
NEJM 2006;355:2523-2532.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Impact of Mass School Immunization on School Attendance
Wiggs-Stayner et al.
The Journal of School Nursing 2006;22:219-222.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Influenza-associated deaths among children.
van der Wouden et al.
NEJM 2006;354:1317-1318.
FULL TEXT  

Influenza-Associated Deaths among Children in the United States, 2003-2004
Bhat et al.
NEJM 2005;353:2559-2567.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Pilot Study of the Effectiveness of a School-Based Influenza Vaccination Program
King et al.
Pediatrics 2005;116:e868-e873.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Management of Influenza Symptoms in Healthy Children: Cost-effectiveness of Rapid Testing and Antiviral Therapy
Rothberg et al.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2005;159:1055-1062.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine, Trivalent, Is Safe in Healthy Children 18 Months to 4 Years, 5 to 9 Years, and 10 to 18 Years of Age in a Community-Based, Nonrandomized, Open-Label Trial
Piedra et al.
Pediatrics 2005;116:e397-e407.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Implementation of Universal Influenza Immunization Recommendations for Healthy Young Children: Results of a Randomized, Controlled Trial With Registry-Based Recall
Kempe et al.
Pediatrics 2005;115:146-154.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Influenza vaccination in asthmatic children: effects on quality of life and symptoms
Bueving et al.
Eur Respir J 2004;24:925-931.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Burden of influenza in healthy children and their households
Principi et al.
Arch. Dis. Child. 2004;89:1002-1007.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Clinical Predictors of Influenza in Children
Friedman and Attia
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2004;158:391-394.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Incidence of Outpatient Visits and Hospitalizations Related to Influenza in Infants and Young Children
O'Brien et al.
Pediatrics 2004;113:585-593.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Every Nose Counts: A New Influenza Vaccine for All Healthy Schoolchildren?
Gaglani and Herschler
CLIN PEDIATR 2004;43:35-41.
ABSTRACT  

Direct and Total Effectiveness of the Intranasal, Live-Attenuated, Trivalent Cold-Adapted Influenza Virus Vaccine Against the 2000-2001 Influenza A(H1N1) and B Epidemic in Healthy Children
Gaglani et al.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2004;158:65-73.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Ketolides: A New Class of Antibacterial Agents for Treatment of Community-Acquired Respiratory Tract Infections in a Primary Care Setting
Clark and Langston
Mayo Clin Proc. 2003;78:1113-1124.
ABSTRACT  

Severe acute respiratory syndrome: Capture-recapture method should be used to count how many cases of SARS really exist
Lange and LaPorte
BMJ 2003;326:1396-1396.
FULL TEXT