In Very Young Infants Severity of Acute Bronchiolitis Depends On Carried Viruses RV and RSV
2009

Severity of Acute Bronchiolitis in Infants and Its Relation to Viruses

Sample size: 209 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Christophe Marguet, Marc Lubrano, Marie Gueudin, Pascal Le Roux, Antoine Deschildre, Chantal Forget, Laure Couderc, Daniel Siret, Marie-Dominique Donnou, Michael Bubenheim, Astrid Vabret, François Freymuth

Primary Institution: Rouen University Hospital Charles Nicolle, Rouen, France

Hypothesis

The study aims to determine the respective role of RSV, RV, hMPV, and co-infections on the severity of acute bronchiolitis in very young infants.

Conclusion

The study found that RSV caused more severe disease in infants with bronchiolitis compared to RV, which was associated with less severe illness.

Supporting Evidence

  • 209 infants were enrolled in the study.
  • 94.7% of infants carried at least one virus.
  • RSV was found to cause more severe bronchiolitis compared to RV.
  • Infants with RV had shorter hospital stays and less severe clinical scores.
  • Dual RSV/RV infection did not worsen the severity of bronchiolitis.

Takeaway

This study shows that some viruses make babies sicker than others when they have bronchiolitis, with RSV being the worst and RV being less severe.

Methodology

A prospective study was conducted on infants hospitalized for a first episode of bronchiolitis, assessing severity through clinical scores, oxygen supplementation, and hospitalization length.

Potential Biases

Potential biases may arise from the selection criteria and the observational nature of the study.

Limitations

The study only included infants hospitalized for their first episode of bronchiolitis, which may limit the generalizability of the findings.

Participant Demographics

Infants aged less than 1 year, median age 2.4 months, with a sex ratio of 1.3 (boys to girls).

Statistical Information

P-Value

p=0.01, p=0.04, p=0.02, p=0.03, p=0.001

Confidence Interval

95% CI for various odds ratios reported in the study.

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1371/journal.pone.0004596

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