Abstract:

Objective To summarize the clinical characteristics of measles in children and to provide a basis for the prevention and control, clinical diagnosis and treatment of measles. Methods Clinical data of 757 children with measles admitted to the Department of Pediatrics, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University from March 2009 to July 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The children were divided into <8 months old age group and ≥8 months old age group according to their age. Clinical characteristics of the two groups were compared. Results There were 505 boys (66.7%) and 252 girls (33.3%) recruited, the median age was 8.7 (6.7-12.0) months, with most children younger than 1 year old (71.7%). The peak of measles is from March to May every year. 653 children (86.3%) were not vaccinated. The clinical manifestations were fever (99.50%), rash (100%), cough (71.99%), measles mucosal plaque (Koplik plaque, 58.4%), etc, the most common complication was pneumonia (77.54%). There were 251 children (33.2%) <8 months old and 506 children (66.8%) ≥8 months old. Compared with ≥8 months old age group, the incidence of typical rash, cough, dyspnea, diarrhea, and severe measles was higher than that in <8 months old age group, and the incidence of high fever was lower, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There were 738 clinical cures (97.5%) and 19 deaths. Among the deceased children, 14 were <1 year old and 5 were ≥1 year old; 16 were not vaccinated; 8 had underlying diseases. Conclusions Measles in children is prevalent in spring and summer, most common in unvaccinated boys <1 year of age, and the main clinical manifestation is typical measles, which can lead to death, especially those combined with underlying diseases.

Key words: measles, clinical characteristics, retrospective research, child