Epidemiology of hospitalization for acute bronchiolitis in children: a systematic review

Abstract

Bronchiolitis is a sequence of clinical signs and symptoms that include a viral respiratory prodrome followed by wheezing and increased lower respiratory effort. It is the leading cause of hospitalization among infants younger than 2 years of age. Therefore, this paper aimed to assess the epidemiology of hospitalization for acute bronchiolitis in children. Two databases, PubMed and Google Scholar, were searched for studies on bronchiolitis in children published after 2010. Keywords, including epidemiology, children, pediatric, hospitalization, admission, risk factors, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), were used in different combinations to obtain the relevant articles. The inclusion criteria for this review were original articles on pediatric bronchiolitis that were written in English, available in full text, and contained clear and complete data. A total of 609 articles were retrieved, of which seven met the inclusion criteria. The included studies involved a total of 4,288 children in 7 countries. The major causative agent for bronchiolitis among hospitalized children was RSV. The main findings analyzed included causative agents, symptoms, hospitalization, management, and complications. Bronchiolitis is mostly caused by RSV. Longer hospital stays were associated with RSV, co-infection, and infants less than 2 months of age.