In a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE. Jo Murray and colleagues examined the timing and duration of hospital admissions from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis among term and preterm infants in England and to identify risk factors for admission. We carried out a population-based birth cohort with follow-up to age 1 year, using the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database using data from 71 hospitals across England. We identified 296618 individual birth records from 2007/08 and linked to subsequent hospital admission records during the first year of life.In our cohort, there were 7189 hospital admissions with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis, 24.2 admissions per 1000 infants under 1 year (95% CI 23.7–24.8), of which 15% (1050/7189) were born preterm (47.3 bronchiolitis admissions per 1000 preterm infants (95% CI 44.4–50.2)). The peak age group for bronchiolitis admissions was infants aged 1 month and the median was age 120 days (IQR = 61–209 days). The median length of stay was 1 day (IQR = 0–3). The relative risk (RR) of a bronchiolitis admission was higher among infants with known risk factors for severe RSV infection, including those born preterm (RR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.8–2.0) compared with infants born at term. Other conditions also significantly increased risk of bronchiolitis admission, including Down's syndrome (RR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.7–3.7) and cerebral palsy (RR = 2.4, 95% CI 1.5–4.0).
85% of the infants who are admitted to hospital with bronchiolitis in England are born at term, with no known predisposing risk factors for severe RSV infection, although risk of admission is higher in known risk groups. The early age of bronchiolitis admissions has important implications for the potential impact and timing of future active and passive immunisations. More research is needed to explain why babies born with Down's syndrome and cerebral palsy are also at higher risk of hospital admission with RSV bronchiolitis.
Comments
Healthline just launched a campaign for called "You Are Not Your COPD" where COPD patients share their story or advice about living with the disease. You can see the homepage for the campaign here: http://www.healthline.com/health/copd/inspirational-stories
We have partnered with the COPD Foundation to promote the campaign and have pledged that for every submitted story, Healthline will donate $10 to the COPD Foundation.
I am writing to ask if you can help spread the word about this campaign by including it as a resource on your page: http://medical-centre.blogspot.com/2010/07/copd-prevalence-model-for-england.html
The more stories we receive the more Healthline will donate to COPD research, support, and treatment programs. Would you please consider including this on your site or sharing with your followers?
I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you,
Maggie Danhakl • Assistant Marketing Manager
p: 415-281-3124 f: 415-281-3199
Healthline • The Power of Intelligent Health
660 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
www.healthline.com | @Healthline | @HealthlineCorp
About Us: corp.healthline.com