Increasing paediatric empyema admissions

Empyema is most often a complication of bacterial pneumonia or, less commonly, thoracic trauma or surgery. There have been reports of increasing numbers of children presenting to regional units in the UK, 1-3 but there are no published national data that may provide evidence of a clear trend. Analysis of national routine admissions data provides information on health service utilisation and may provide a marker for the incidence of this relatively uncommon disease.