Viral bronchiolitis is one of the most common hospital presentations in infancy and as such represents a major healthcare burden worldwide. However despite this, there are currently no effective targeted therapies nor can those infants at highest risk for developing severe disease or subsequent respiratory morbidity be predicted on initial hospital presentation. Current definitions of bronchiolitis in the published literature vary significantly in terms of the age range at presentation, specific clinical symptoms, causative virus, and the inclusion or exclusion of infants with previous presentations and/or various comorbidities. In this review, we highlight how this heterogeneity among definitions contributes to a lack of clarity on this condition and its likely multiple endotypes. We argue that without a new universal consensus definition or sets of definitions, progress into bronchiolitis will continue to be stalled.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.