title: Referrals for recurrent respiratory tract infections including otitis media in young children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  (a) To establish whether disease-related, child-related, and physician-related factors are independently associated with specialist referral in young children with recurrent RTI, and (b) to evaluate whether general practitioners (GPs) follow current guidelines regarding these referrals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic GP records of children under 24 month of age, born 2002-2008, were reviewed for RTI episodes using ICPC codes. Child-related factors were extracted from the prospective WHISTLER birth-cohort in which a considerable part of children had been enrolled. To evaluate guideline adherence, referral data were compared to national guideline recommendations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Consultations for 2532 RTI episodes (1041 children) were assessed. Seventy-eight children were referred for recurrent RTI (3.1% of RTI episodes; 7.5% of children). Disease factors were the main determinants of referral: number (OR 1.7 [CI 1.7-1.7]) and severity of previous RTI episodes (OR 2.2 [CI 1.6-2.8]), and duration of RTI episode (OR 1.7 [CI 1.7-1.8]). The non-disease factors daycare attendance (OR 1.3 [CI 1.0-1.7]) and 5-10 years working experience as a GP compared with <5 years (OR 0.37 [CI 0.27-0.50]) were also associated. Fifty-seven percent of referrals for recurrent RTI were made in accordance with national guidelines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Referral of children for recurrent RTI was primarily determined by frequency, severity, and duration of RTIs; the influence of non-disease factors was limited. Just over half of referrals were made in accordance with guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Alma C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: van de Pol
authors.forename: Anne C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: van der Gugten
authors.forename: Cornelis K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: van der Ent
authors.forename: Anne G M
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Schilder
authors.forename: Elsje M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Benthem
authors.forename: Henriette A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Smit
authors.forename: Rebecca K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Stellato
authors.forename: Niek J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: de Wit
authors.forename: Roger A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Damoiseaux
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index