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Young infants frequently diagnosed with RSV
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Younger children are more likely to get respiratory syncytial virus or severe respiratory syncytial virus diseases, especially in early infancy, according to recent study findings published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
The retrospective study included 959 children with RSV, 87% of whom were aged 2 years and younger and 56.6% were aged 6 months and younger.
Researchers found that 40.5% of patients had fever and 5.5% had severe respiratory distress. Forty-nine patients were transferred to the ICU but no deaths occurred. Median length of hospital stay was 8 days, 92.5% of the patients developed pneumonia and 21.8% experienced wheezing. The average cost of RSV-related hospitalizations was $571.80.
The price increased for patients transferred to the ICU ($909.60) but decreased for those treated on wards ($565.40).
“In conclusion, RSV infections and severe RSV disease occurred most early in infancy,” the researchers wrote. “Direct medical costs were high enough to be an important source of economic burden to families of children with RSV-related hospitalization. Effective strategies of RSV immunization of young children may be beneficial in addressing this disease burden.”
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by SINO-US collaborative program on Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases, the CDC influenza branch, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project.
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