Acute bronchiolitis is a common cause of hospitalization in children and has been identified as a risk factor of respiratory failure in young infants. There are few studies for determines the severity of acute bronchiolitis that may be helpful in the initial assessment of these infants.
Methods
Retrospective chart review of infants who hospitalized at single tertiary hospital between December 2014 and April 2015 was done. The exclusion criteria were atopic dermatitis, preterm, congenital heart disease, other congenital anomaly and metabolic disease. Bronchiolitis severity score (BSS, general appearance, lung sound, dyspnea, respiration rate, oxygen saturation by pulse oxymetry) was evaluated at admission and within 72 hrs after admission. Outcome measures included feeding pattern, allergy history of parents, virus, initial body weight, current body weight and, height.
Results
We enrolled 51 hospitalized infants, all under 12 months old (3.79±2.64 months of age) and 66% were male (n=34). Mean body weight at admission was 7.11±1.88 kg. The mean (±SD) duration of hospitalization was 5.67 ±2.2 days and it had positive relation with BSS. (P<0.05) There were significant association between BSS and maternal allergy, height and age. (p<0.05) However, no significant association was observed between BSS and body weight, amount of increased weight from birth and infected virus.
Conclusions
Maternal allergy, age and height of infant were found to be significant factors in the severity of acute bronchiolitis in infant. Further study is needed to determine if maternal allergy allow for prediction of long term respiratory outcomes, such as asthma, following bronchiolitis because infants with severe bronchiolitis were more likely to have a familial atopic predisposition, which may partly explain subsequent increased asthma risk.