Table 1. Baseline characteristics of children admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with severe acute respiratory tract infections (SARIs) or medium care (MC) with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) associated with a single virus infection in the absence of viral co-infections and typical bacterial co-infections at Erasmus MC-Sophia from 2007–2012.
| PICU-SARI patients n = 44 (%) | MC-ARTI patients n = 40 (%) | p-values | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | |||
| Months | 9.6 (1.8–24.7, 0.46–152)a | 14.15 (7.6–30.1, 0.7–199)a | 0.0447 |
| Years | 0.8 (0.15–2.1, 0.04–12.7)a | 1.18 (0.63–2.5, 0.06–16.6)a | 0.0442 |
| Male | 22 (50) | 22 (55) | 0.66 |
| Reason for Admission | |||
| Upper respiratory tract infections | 9 (21) | 9 (22.5) | |
| Lower respiratory tract infections | 15 (34) | 18 (45) | |
| Wheezing and oxygen need | 18 (41) | 11 (27.5) | |
| Others | 2 (4)* | 2 (5)** | |
| Medical history | |||
| None | 10 (23) | 6 (15) | 0.4 (F) |
| Pulmonary disease (including cystic fibrosis) | 6 (14) | 5 (12.5) | ns |
| Pre-term birth (gestational age < 37 weeks) | 10 (23) | 4 (10) | 0.15 (F) |
| Anatomical malformations and syndromal | 8 (18) | 5 (12.5) | 0.55 (F) |
| Cardiovascular | 1 (2) | 4 (10) | 0.19 (F) |
| Oncology and immunology | - | 2 (5) | - |
| Neuro-muscular, SGA and others | 9 (21) | 14 (35) | 0.15 (F) |
| Specimens | |||
| Nasal washing | 34 (77) | 39 (98) | 0.006 (C) |
| Sputum | 8 (18) | - | |
| Throat swab | 2 (5) | - | |
| Nasal swab | - | 1 (2) | |
| Respiratory support | |||
| Supplemental | 9 (20) | 30 (75) | |
| Non-invasive | 8 (18) | 5 (12.5) | |
| Invasive | 27 (61) | - | |
| Extracorporeal oxygenation | 1 (including invasive) | - | |
| None | - | 5 (12.5) | |
| Length of stay | |||
| PICU stay days | 3 (0–39)b | 0 | 0.0002 |
| Hospital stay | 0 | 5 (1–21)b | |
| Survival | 42 (96) | 39 (98) | 0.61 (C) |
a median, lower interquartile range—upper interquartile range, minimum-maximum
b median, minimum-maximum
* apparent life-threatening event and respiratory fatigue due to muscular disease;
** exacerbation of cystic fibrosis and apparent life-threatening event; F = Fisher-exact-test C = Chi-square test.