Is Empyema Increasing Among Children?

Researchers have reported increased rates of childhood empyema since 2000, when the heptavalent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7) was introduced. Might this increase be attributable to the replacement of endemic strains with nonvaccine pneumococcal serotypes more likely to cause empyema? To find out, investigators examined empyema admissions at a medical center in Sacramento, California, for an 11-year period.

The researchers reviewed the records of patients aged ≤18 years who were admitted from 1996 through 2006 and had discharge diagnoses of empyema or an invasive pneumococcal infection (IPI). Of 190 patients who met study criteria, 97 had empyema and 93 had IPIs.

The number of empyema cases from 2001 through 2005 was fivefold higher th…