Adults still account for many deaths from chickenpox

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7357.221/b

BMJ 2002;325:221 ( 27 July )

Letters

Adults still account for many deaths from chickenpox

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ It was good to learn from Brisson et al's letter that the trend of an increasing number of deaths from chickenpox hasreversed in the three years since colleagues and I completed oursurvey. ¹ ² However, Brisson et al disagree with our claimthat deaths in adults are rising and state that this is misleading.¹

Our conclusion that adult deaths had risen was based on statistics covering a period of 31 years (1967-97). Among certifieddeaths from chickenpox adults accounted for 48% in 1967-77 (88deaths in 11 years), 64% in 1978-85 (120 deaths in eight years),³and 81% in 1986-97 (269 deaths in 12years).

The contention that our data are misleading on the basis of three further years of data compared with our span of 31 yearsclearly needs to be placed in context. Moreover, there is a precedentfor periods of lower mortality, as discussed below for the period1989-91. The main body of our . . . [Full text of this article]

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Deaths from chickenpox: Marc Brisson, W John Edmunds, Nigel J Gay, Elizabeth Miller, J Claire Bramley, Ruby Devi, David Muir, Philip Rice, A H Mohsen, M W McKendrick, Neil Roberts, Giles J Peek, Nikki Jones, Richard K Firmin, and Diana Elbourne
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