Yeo KT, de la Puerta R, Tee NWS, Thoon KC, Rajadurai VS, Yung CF. Burden, etiology and risk factors of respiratory virus infections among symptomatic preterminfants in the tropics: a retrospective single-center cohort study. Clin Infect Dis. 2018 Apr 12, in press. Available from: doi: 10.1093/cid/ciy311
Summary
A 11-year retrospective cohort data linkage study was performed in one hospital from Singapore to investigate the epidemiology of respiratory viral infections (RVIs). This study included 1854 preterm infants (born with ≤32 weeks of gestational age) admitted with laboratory confirmed RVIs before 2 years old. Overall 14.5% infants had at least one RVI. The hospitalisation rate of RVI was 116 per 1000 infants per year with the highest rate in 3-5 months age group (200). Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was the most common pathogen identified (56.8%) and a similar peak in 3-5 months age group was found. Infants with RVIs were more likely to be born with ≤27 weeks of gestational age, have received treatment of postnatal steroids and be diagnosed with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. However, this study only included symptomatic infants admitted to hospitals, which might have missed infants with mild symptoms or were asymptomatic and infants who were not hospitalised. Also, some social and environmental factors which might increase the risk of RVI were not included in this analysis. Study interpretation should also take into consideration the testing strategy and laboratory methodology.
Abstract on Pubmed.