Twelve-month outcome following septic arthritis in children.

There are very few literature data from the last two decades on the rate of complications following septic arthritis in children. This retrospective chart review shows that 10% of children admitted for septic arthritis to our institution suffered from clinically significant complications at 12 months following diagnosis. Forty-four children met our inclusion criteria, of whom 59% were male and 57% were culture positive. The most common causative organism was Staphylococcus aureus (76%), of which only 8% were methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Poor prognostic factors were culture positivity, infancy (<2 years) and male sex. Our rate of dysfunction is lower than most published rates, which have historically been in the range 15 to 49% in developed countries.