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What is the economic impact of preschool viral upper respiratory infection?

Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Children's Services, Royal London Hospital, London, UK.

To the Editor:

In a previous issue of the European Respiratory Journal Stevens et al. 1 suggested that preschool children with wheeze account for a significant proportion of the UK healthcare budget. Most preschool wheezing is caused by viral infection and, therefore, we wondered how much preschool children with upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) without wheeze would cost the National Health Service?

On average, a preschool child will catch 6–8 URTIs per year 2, and 11% of children <14 yrs will be taken to their family doctor when unwell. These figures may be higher in younger children 3. If a child has six colds per year and is seen by a doctor for 11% of these infections, then, based on the 2.94 million UK preschool population estimate and a £16 consultation cost estimation 1, the primary care costs of viral URTI would be £31 million. This compares to the £34 million estimated by Stevens et al. 1 as the cost of preschool wheezing. Therefore, the additional cost burden of wheeze seems small.

We believe the villains are not wheeze and asthma but the respiratory viruses!

References

1. Stevens CA, Turner D, Kuehni CE, Couriel JM, Silverman M. The economic impact of preschool asthma and wheeze. Eur Respir J 2003;21:1000–1006.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Coughs and colds in children. www.prodigy.nhs.uk/clinicalguidance/releasedguidance/webBrowser/pils/PL43.htm.
3. Bruijnzeels MA, Foets M, van der Wouden JC, van der Heuvel WJ, Prins A. Everyday symptoms in childhood: occurrence and general practitioner consultation rates. Br J Gen Pract 1998;48:880–884.[Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]

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This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Permissions Request Permissions Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Urquhart, D.S. Articles by McKenzie, S.A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Urquhart, D.S. Articles by McKenzie, S.A.