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December 1996, Vol 150, No. 12 >
Article | December 1996

Corticosteroids and Risk of Complicated Varicella FREE

Sérgio de A. Nishioka, MD, MSc
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996;150(12):1314. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1996.02170370092020.
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Patel and colleagues1 conducted a well-designed unmatched case-control study assessing whether recent use of corticosteroid drugs was associated to complicated varicella in children. The authors' preoccupation in including in their study only children who were immunocompetent except for the use of a corticosteroid drug made them end up with only 3 exposed subjects, 2 case patients, and 1 control subject. As the exposure was very rare (1%) in the study population, the odds ratio estimate became unstable owing to potential random error, and the study did not have enough power to detect a significant association of low magnitude. In fact, the power of this study to detect the observed odds ratio of 1.6 at a significance level of 5% is only around 2%! Therefore, the study was unable to demonstrate an increased risk of complicated varicella associated to recent corticosteroid drug use.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of

REFERENCES

1 +
Patel H, Macarthur C, Johnson D.  Recent corticosteroid use and the risk of complicated varicella in otherwise immunocompetent children . Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med . 1996;;150:409-414.
2 +
Altman DG, Bland JM.  Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence . BMJ . 1995;;311:485.
3 +
Dowell SF, Bresee JS.  Severe varicella associated with steroid use . Pediatrics . 1993;;92:223-228.

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Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature

Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal

References

1 +
Patel H, Macarthur C, Johnson D.  Recent corticosteroid use and the risk of complicated varicella in otherwise immunocompetent children . Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med . 1996;;150:409-414.
2 +
Altman DG, Bland JM.  Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence . BMJ . 1995;;311:485.
3 +
Dowell SF, Bresee JS.  Severe varicella associated with steroid use . Pediatrics . 1993;;92:223-228.

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