EPIDEMIOLOGIC EVALUATION OF ACUTE VIRAL BRONCHIOLITIS (AVB) IN INFANTS HOSPITALIZED

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the epidemiological profile of AVB and to identify prognostic factors of clinical complications of infants admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). METHODS: Prospective cohort study of 61 infants with a clinical diagnosis of AVB admitted to the PICU from June/2016 to July/2017. All infants were followed up during the hospitalization period for clinical and laboratory data collection. In addition, it was carried out an interview with the mothers or legal guardians to obtain socioeconomic information and morbid antecedents. RESULTS: Mean age was 6.9 months, the length of PICU stay was 8.4 days, the prematurity rate was 27.9%, 62.7% presented anemia, and the presence of household smoking 56.7%. Pneumonia (34.4%) and atelectasis (26.2%) were the most prevalent clinical complications. In addition, pneumonia was associated with hospitalization time longer than seven days (OR=3.91, p=0.020), severe dyspnea on admission (OR=3.75, p=0.020), and thinness (OR=3.54, p=0.040). None associations were observed for atelectasis. CONCLUSION: The epidemiological data presented in this study can be applied to the improvement of actions targeting ABV control actions in infants, not only by the identification of the prognostic factors associated with pneumonia but also especially by the necessity to provide greater attention and care to infants with AVB who are thinness and present severe dyspnea on admission to the PICU.