Summary Background Viral respiratory infection (VRI) is a frequent cause of hospitalization in children under 24 months of age. Prematurity or heart disease histories may be risk factors for complications in patients hospitalized for VRI.
Objective To describe the epidemiological data of pediatric patients 1 to 24 months of age who were hospitalized for VRI and identify risk factors for the presence of in-hospital complications over a period of 5 years.
Methods This was a cross-sectional study. The database was compiled by doctors, electronically validated by engineers and analyzed by statisticians. Patients with VRI (based on International Classification of Diseases [ICD-10] codes B974, J12, J120-J129X, J168, J17, J171, J178, J20, J203-J209, J21, J210, J211, J218, J219, J22X, and J189) from 2013 to 2017 were registered. The patients were classified into 2 groups according to the absence or presence of a history of prematurity (P070, P072, P073), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) (P271) and congenital heart disease (CHD) (Q20-Q26). Length of hospital stay, in-hospital complications, surgical procedures and mortality were analyzed.Statistical analysis The prevalence of hospitalization for VRI was described. For comparisons between the groups, Student's t-tests and chi2 tests were applied. To identify the factors related to in-hospital complications and mortality, a logistic regression model was constructed.
Results A total of 69,093 hospitalizations were reported. The average age of patients was 14.17 weeks. The number of hospitalization events in winter was the highest (38.9%), followed by autumn (27.3%). A total of 408 (0.59%) patients died. A total of 7,496 hospitalized patients with comorbidities were identified. Surgical procedures (OR = 16.66 & 16.64) and comorbidities (OR = 4.29 & 4.58) were risk factors for in-hospital complications and mortality.
Conclusions The risk factors for morbidity and mortality in patients hospitalized for VRI were a history of prematurity, BPD and CHD, as well as some type of surgical procedure during hospitalization.