Reye Syndrome and Aspirin Use: The Role of Prodromal Illness Severity in the Assessment of Relative Risk

Abstract
In response to "Aspirin and Reye Syndrome" by the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics (p 810), we offer comments which are restricted to our analysis of existing epidemiologic study data, portions of which were provided to us by the Ohio, Michigan, and Arizona investigators. This commentary should not be construed as our approval or disapproval of aspirin use in children. Rather, it summarizes our specific disagreements with the interpretation of the state epidemiologic data that were the basis of the report by the Committee on Infectious Diseases. We have found that an unassessed confounding variable of large magnitude is common to the state studies.