Respiratory syncytial virus infection: survival experience in a cohort of children inpatients

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the survival experience of children hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection due to bronchiolitis.

Study design: This was a nationwide retrospective cohort study conducted in Mexico.

Methods: We analyzed data from 436 children aged 5 years and younger, with symptom onset between August 2021 and November 2022. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compute survivor functions and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results: High survival rates were observed, particularly within the first three weeks of hospital admission. The 3-day survival rate was 99.8% (CI 98.4-99.9%), which decreased to 98.9% (CI 96.5-99.7%), 97.5% (CI 91.9-99.3%), 86.7% (CI 48.2-97.2%), and 69.4% (CI 24.2-91.0%) on days 7, 14, 21, and 28 of hospital stay, respectively. We documented a total of 5 fatal outcomes, resulting in a mortality rate of 2.1 (95% CI 0.9-5.1) per 1,000 person-days.

Conclusions: Our study analyzed a large cohort of pediatric patients with bronchiolitis caused by RSV infection, providing valuable insights into the in-hospital progression of this disease.

Keywords: Bronchiolitis; Child; Respiratory syncytial virus infections; Survival.