The Relationship Between Viruses and Clinical Findings in Hospitalized Children Diagnosed with Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection

Abstract

Objective: In this retrospective study, we aimed to identify viral agents in children hospitalized with ALRTI and to show the relationship between viral agents and clinical characteristics. Material and Methods: Two hundred and fifty five children (55.7% male) who were diagnosed with ALRTI and hospitalized between March 2016 and February 2017 were included in the study. Clinical characteristics of the patients who were examined to detect respiratory tract viruses with PCR analysis in nasopharyngeal swab samples were evaluated by using medical records. The patients were divided into three groups according to their age: under two years old, between 2-6 years old, and between 6-18 years old. Newborns were not included in the study. Results: Two hundred and three patients (79.6%) were under two years old. Thirty eight patients (14.9%) were aged 2-6 years, and 14 patients (5.5%) were aged 6-18 years. Among the age groups, male gender was significantly higher in the patients who were under two years old (p= 0.018). There was no significant difference hospitalization between the age groups and the genders in the clinic of pediatrics and the intensive care unit (p= 0.34). A single virus was detected in 158 patients (62%), and more than one viral agent was detected in 35 patients (13.7%). The most frequent virus was RSV (31.8%). However, RSV was not detected in any patient between the ages of 6-18. Respiratory syncytial virus was followed by iRV (11.8%), iMPV (5.1%) and iCoV (3.9%), respectively. No significant difference was found between the clinical findings of the vi-ruses. Twenty four point two percent of the patients had no virus that was detected with PCR test. Hospitalization duration was longer in vi-rus-negative patients compared to patients who had at least one virus in their nasopharyngeal swab samples. Conclusion: Most respiratory viruses may be detected with PCR analysis in nasopharyngeal swab samples. However, detecting to all respiratory viruses may not always be possible. In the present study hospitalization duration in virus-negative patients was longer than patients with at least one viral agent suggests that more comprehensive studies are needed.