Cellulitis in children: a retrospective single centre study from Australia

Aim To characterise the epidemiology, clinical features and treatment of paediatric cellulitis.Methods A retrospective study of children presenting to a paediatric tertiary hospital in Western Australia, Australia in 2018. All inpatient records from 1 January to 31 December 2018 and emergency department presentations from 1 July to 31 December 2018 were screened for inclusion.Results 302 episodes of cellulitis were included comprising 206 (68.2%) admitted children and 96 (31.8%) non-admitted children. The median age was 5 years (IQR 2–9), 40 (13.2%) were Aboriginal and 180 (59.6%) boys. The extremities were the most commonly affected body site among admitted and non-admitted patients. There was a greater proportion of facial cellulitis in admitted patients (27.2%) compared with non-admitted patients (5.2%, p