Clinical features, risk factors, and complications among pediatric patients with pandemic influenza A (H1N1).

Objective: The authors aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics, clinical features, risk factors for severe disease, and complications in children with laboratory-confirmed pandemic influenza A (H1N1).

Methods: H1N1 was confirmed by performing reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay on oropharyngeal swab specimens. The medical charts of a subset of the evaluated patients were reviewed retrospectively; another subset was enrolled prospectively.