Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) continue to be a substantial cause of mortality in children under 5 and contribute to morbidity, hospitalizations, and healthcare costs.Nearly one in four of the current study's hospitalized pediatric patients with acute RTIs developed severe disease.Increased risk was highest in kids with two or more underlying conditions or who were transferred from a referring hospital.
Having multiple comorbidities or being transferred from a referring hospital was linked to a greater risk of severe illness in children hospitalized with acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs), according to a Canadian retrospective cohort study.
Nearly one in four of the study's 2,585 hospitalized acute RTI pediatric patients (21.3%) developed severe disease, according to Haifa Mtaweh, MD, PhD, of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and colleagues.
Those with two or more underlying conditions were 62% more likely than kids with none to develop severe disease (adjusted relative risk [aRR] 1.62, 95% CI 1.36-1.93), an association not seen for the children with one or more preexisting conditions.
And those who were transferred from a hospital to one of the study's two children's hospitals were 4.7 times more likely to have their acute RTI lead to severe illness (aRR 4.73, 95% CI 4.01-5.59), they reported in JAMA Network Open.
