EPIDEMIOLOGIC AND CLINICAL FINDINGS OF WH OOPING COUGH IN CHILDREN HOSPITALIZED IN PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE-CARE UNIT BETWEEN 1990 AND 1994

Between 1990 and 1994, 105 children were admitted for whooping cough t o one of the 22 intensive care units belonging to the Pediatric Intens ive Care Unit, French Language Group. On admission to ICU, 78 children were less than 3 months old, 9 of which were less than 30 days old, 2 4 children were aged between 3 and 6 months, 2 children between 6 and 12 months and only one child was older than 12 months. 98 % of these c hildren suffered from paroxysmal cough, 50 % from bradycardia, 21 % fr om apnea and 9 % from life-threatening whooping cough as identified by Huault in 1983. Among the complications, 2 cases of pneumothorax, 17 cases of atelectasis, 11 cases of bronchopneumonia (gram negative orga nism in 8 cases), 2 cases of septicemia and 6 cases of seizures were w orthy of note. The mean leucocyte and lymphocyte maximum values were s tatistically different in children suffering from life-threatening who oping cough as compared to children suffering from the other forms of whooping cough : 99 100/mm(3) in the first group compared to 28 000/mm (3) and 41 200/mm(3) in the first group compared to 19 410/mm(3) in th e second group respectively. A significant difference was also recorde d in these 2 groups with regard to the minimum blood sodium value whic h was 123 and 136 mmol/l respectively. 34 children required mechanical ventilation for a mean duration of 8,3 days (1-21 days). 7 children ( 6,6 %) died, all of them belonging to the life-threatening group.