Table 2. Clinical Characteristics of Children and Adolescents With Rhinovirus and/or Enterovirus–Positive Test Results in the Prepandemic and Pandemic Periods .
| Characteristic | ED | Inpatient | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. (%) | P valuea | No. (%) | P valuea | |||
| Prepandemic period (n = 4621) | Pandemic period (n = 841) | Prepandemic period (n = 5174) | Pandemic period (n = 667) | |||
| Underlying medical conditionsb | ||||||
| ≥1 Underlying medical condition | 1532 (33.2) | 263 (31.3) | .30 | 2902 (56.1) | 383 (57.4) | .54 |
| Respiratory | 642 (13.9) | 149 (17.7) | .004 | 1463 (28.3) | 257 (38.5) | <.001 |
| Asthma or RAD only | 554 (12.0) | 125 (14.9) | .02 | 1187 (22.9) | 208 (31.2) | <.001 |
| Cardiovascular | 81 (1.8) | 25 (3.0) | .03 | 250 (4.8) | 44 (6.6) | .06 |
| Neurological or neuromuscular | 144 (3.1) | 56 (6.7) | <.001 | 419 (8.1) | 93 (13.9) | <.001 |
| Oncologic or immunosuppressive | 428 (9.3) | 128 (15.2) | <.001 | 936 (18.1) | 203 (30.4) | <.001 |
| Kidney | 13 (0.3) | 6 (0.7) | .10 | 36 (0.7) | 4 (0.6) | .97 |
| Gastrointestinal or hepatic | 124 (2.7) | 25 (3.0) | .72 | 356 (6.9) | 68 (10.2) | .002 |
| Endocrine | 10 (0.2) | 5 (0.6) | .12 | 54 (1.0) | 15 (2.2) | .01 |
| Other | 368 (8.0) | 12 (1.4) | <.001 | 576 (11.1) | 23 (3.4) | <.001 |
| Prematurity: <37 wkc | 148 (3.2) | 69 (8.2) | <.001 | 301 (5.8) | 101 (15.1) | <.001 |
| Physical assessment | ||||||
| Wheezing | 1424 (30.9)d | 187 (22.2) | <.001 | 3359 (65.2)e | 420 (63.0) | .26 |
| Retractions | 1137 (24.8)f | 138 (16.4)g | <.001 | 3589 (70.0)h | 426 (64.4)i | .004 |
| Illness duration, d | ||||||
| Mean (SD) | 1.2 (2.1) | 2.6 (2.2) | <.001 | 1.5 (2.3) | 3.0 (2.3) | <.001 |
| Median (IQR) | 0 (0.0-2.0) | 2.0 (1.0-3.0) | 0 (0.0-2.0) | 2.0 (1.0-4.0) | ||
| Primary discharge diagnosis | ||||||
| Acute upper respiratory infection | 843 (18.2) | 156 (18.5) | .87 | 189 (3.7) | 25 (3.7) | .99 |
| Acute bronchiolitis | 415 (9.0) | 44 (5.2) | <.001 | 1048 (20.3) | 105 (15.7) | .007 |
| Asthma or RAD | 668 (14.5) | 68 (8.1) | <.001 | 927 (17.9) | 133 (19.9) | .22 |
| Fever, unspecified | 319 (6.9) | 71 (8.4) | .13 | 93 (1.8) | 11 (1.6) | .91 |
| Viral infection, unspecified | 207 (4.5) | 81 (9.6) | <.001 | 51 (1.0) | 10 (1.5) | .31 |
| Pneumonia | 86 (1.9) | 6 (0.7) | .03 | 262 (5.1) | 24 (3.6) | .12 |
| Acute respiratory failure with hypoxia | 0 | 0 | NA | 342 (6.6) | 30 (4.5) | .04 |
| Croup | 181 (3.9) | 19 (2.3) | .02 | 114 (2.2) | 7 (1.0) | .07 |
| Primary admission diagnosis | ||||||
| Asthma or RAD | NA | NA | NA | 969 (18.7) | 111 (16.6) | .21 |
| Acute bronchiolitis | NA | NA | NA | 861 (16.6) | 81 (12.1) | .004 |
| Fever, unspecified | NA | NA | NA | 277 (5.4) | 64 (9.6) | <.001 |
| Pneumonia | NA | NA | NA | 200 (3.9) | 14 (2.1) | .03 |
| Cough | NA | NA | NA | 186 (3.6) | 28 (4.2) | .50 |
| Periodic breathing | NA | NA | NA | 167 (3.2) | 44 (6.6) | <.001 |
Abbreviations: ED, emergency department; NA, not applicable; RAD, reactive airway disease.
a
P values comparing prepandemic and pandemic periods were calculated using an unpaired, 2-tailed t test with unequal variances for continuous variables and Pearson χ2 test for categorical variables, with α<.05.
b
Underlying medical conditions were based on medical record review.
c
History of prematurity was reported for patients younger than 2 years.
d
n = 4603.
e
n = 5148.
f
n = 4578.
g
n = 839.
h
n = 5129.
i
n = 661.