BACKGROUND
The trends in hospitalization rates and risk factors for severe bronchiolitis have not been recently described, especially after the routine implementation of prophylaxis for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.
OBJECTIVES
To define the burden of hospitalizations related to RSV and non-RSV bronchiolitis in a tertiary-care children’s hospital from 2002 to 2007 and to identify the risk factors associated with severe disease.
METHODS
Medical records of patients hospitalized for bronchiolitis were reviewed for demographic, clinical, microbiologic, and radiologic characteristics as well as the presence of underlying medical conditions. Differences were evaluated between children with RSV and non-RSV bronchiolitis, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify independent risk factors for severe disease.
RESULTS
Bronchiolitis hospitalizations in children younger than 2 years old (n =4800) significantly increased from 536 (3.3%) in 2002 to 1241 (5.5%) in 2007, mainly because of RSV infections. Patients with RSV bronchiolitis (n = 2840 [66%]) were younger at hospitalization and had a lower percentage of underlying medical conditions than children hospitalized with non-RSV bronchiolitis (27 vs 37.5%; P < .001). However, disease severity defined by length of hospitalization and requirement of supplemental oxygen, intensive care, and mechanical ventilation was significantly worse in children with RSV bronchiolitis. RSV infection and prematurity, regardless of the etiology, were identified as independent risk factors for severe bronchiolitis.
CONCLUSIONS
There was a significant increase in hospitalizations for RSV bronchiolitis from 2002 to 2007. A majority of the children with RSV bronchiolitis were previously healthy, but their disease severity was worse compared with those hospitalized with non-RSV bronchiolitis.
The immunopathogenesis of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human rhinovirus lower respiratory tract infections in children remains to be defined. We measured nasal wash concentrations of 29 cytokines in infants with RSV or human rhinovirus lower respiratory tract infections. Concentrations of interferon-γ in RSV and innate immunity cytokines in both infections inversely correlated with disease severity.
To describe the impact following a 1-dose Varicella vaccination schedule introduced in Costa Rica in September 2007. Areas covered: This is a retrospective review using epidemiologic surveillance national databases of varicella cases and hospitalizations, period 2000-2015. We analyzed age-related varicella incidence cases and hospitalization trends before and after the vaccine introduction. Expert commentary: Varicella vaccine coverage among children 16 months age increased from 76% in 2008 to 95% in 2015. During this period Costa Rica reached a 73.8% reduction of Varicella reported cases and 85.9% reduction of hospitalizations in the general population. Among children under 5 years of age, that reduction was 79.1% and 87%, respectively. Varicella complications in hospitalized patients decreased 98%, from n = 53 in 2008 to n = 1 in 2014. After 8-years post implementation of a 1-dose schedule of universal varicella vaccination, a dramatic overall disease reduction in incidence, hospitalizations and complicated cases has been observed in all age groups.
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) 1 manifests as immune dysregulation after SARS-CoV-2 infection. 2 The syndrome has no pathognomonic features. Thus, the diagnostic criteria of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Org anization (WHO) differ, but they all include fever, evidence of systemic inflammation and involvement of at least 1 organ or system. 3 Our primary objective was to assess initial clinical or laboratory features that predict severe illness in MIS-C. We also sought to explore changes in overall disease severity and cardiac involvement over time as it was the impression of many investigators that severity of MIS-C increased through pandemic waves.
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