title: The clinical picture of juvenile parotitis in a prospective setup.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the features of juvenile parotitis in a prospective setup and epidemiology.
  
  
  METHODS
  All children with parotitis admitted to Helsinki University Central Hospital 2005-2010 were recruited. Clinical characteristics, given treatment, outcome, blood leukocyte count, C-reactive protein, serum amylase and trypsinogen, SPINK-1 genotype and mumps antibodies were recorded. To map the epidemiology, a questionnaire was sent to 1000 randomly selected 13-year-old children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prospective study included 41 children (aged ≤ 17) with acute parotitis, all in good general condition. Serum amylase, but not trypsinogen, was elevated in majority of the cases (79%) and C-reactive protein in 68%. Eleven (27%) children had an elevated blood leukocyte count. None had acute mumps. Most children recovered well, 51% being treated symptomatically only. Seven children were treated on ward. Seventeen (46%) children had recurrent symptoms. One child (2.4%) had SPINK P55S mutation. According to the epidemiological questionnaire, 1.1% of the respondents (8/728, response rate 73%) reported a verified episode(s) of parotitis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Juvenile parotitis has a frequency close to 1%. In the majority, the general condition is good during the episode. Serum amylase serves as an additional marker for the disease. Parotitis has a tendency to recur in almost half of the cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland. riitta.t.saarinen@hus.fi
authors.forename: Riitta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saarinen
authors.forename: Kaija-Leena
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Kolho
authors.forename: Irja
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Davidkin
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pitkäranta
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000681:Amylases / Q000097:blood; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D009109:Mumps virus / Q000276:immunology; D010309:Parotitis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D015415:Biomarkers; D000681:Amylases