Evaluation of Hospitalizations among Children with Varicella Between 2012 and 2017 at an University Hospital

Objective: Varicella is common in childhood in countries where a routine vaccination program is not implemented. The disease can cause serious morbidity and even mortality, especially with increasing age. In our country, the varicella vaccine was included in the national vaccination program on 1 January 2013. The aim of this study was to investigate the hospitalized children with varicella after the administration of varicella vaccine in the national vaccination program. Material and Methods: Pediatric patients who were admitted to our tertiary research hospital between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2017 with a diagnosis of varicella were evaluated retrospectively. The patient demographics, clinical characteristics, underlying diseases, duration of hospitalization, hospitalization costs, and complications were analyzed. Results: A total of 104 cases consisting of 66 (63.5%) males and 38 (36.5%) females were included. Of these cases, 40 (38.4%) were aged under 24 months, 36 (34.6%) between 25 and 72 months, and 28 (27%) over 73 months. There were no underlying diseases in 45 (43.3%) cases. The causes of admission were pulmonary infection in 21 (20.2% ) cases, bacterial skin superinfections in 21 (20.2%) cases, cerebellitis in 7 (6.7%) cases, disseminated rash in 6 (5.8%) cases, hepatitis in 4 (3.8%) cases, febrile convulsions in 4 (3.8%) cases, severe thrombocytopenia in 3 (2.9%) cases, meningoencephalitis in 3 (2.9%) cases, and bronchiolitis in 1(1%) case of all admissions, 24% were in 2012, 10.6% in 2016, and 5.8% in 2017. The median hospital cost per hospital stay was not different in patients without an underlying disease compared to patients with an underlying disease. The median duration of hospitalization was 7 (3-42) days in patients without an underlying disease. Conclusion: These findings indicate that chickenpox can cause a serious problem even in healthy children without underlying diseases. Following the inclusion of varicella vaccine in the national vaccination program, a critical decrease was observed in the frequency of cases requiring hospitalization