Key result
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated interventions were associated with a significant drop in the pathogen detection rate for bronchiolitis in 2020 (45.29%) compared to 2019 (56.57%), followed by a rebound in 2021 (73.78%).
Why the study?
The clinical characteristics and etiology of children hospitalized with bronchiolitis in Suzhou required comparison between the periods before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Observational (n=646)
No
The implementation of COVID-19 pandemic-related interventions significantly reduced respiratory pathogen detection rates in children with bronchiolitis in 2020, followed by a resurgence in 2021 upon relaxation of measures.
RSV detection in bronchiolitis fell with 2020 interventions then rebounded in 2021; observational data leaves open long-term pediatric respiratory virus patterns.
Objective: We sought to compare the clinical characteristics and etiology of children with bronchiolitis in Suzhou before the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with those during the pandemic. Methods: Children who were hospitalized with bronchiolitis in the Department of Respiratory Disease, Children's Hospital of Soochow University were retrospectively enrolled over 3 consecutive years (2019, 2020, and 2021) from February 1 to January 31. Medical records were reviewed for etiology, clinical manifestations, and laboratory examination results. Results: The pathogen detection rate and the positive respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) detection rate were lowest in 2020 and highest in 2021. The rate of human rhinovirus detection in 2021 was higher than that in 2019 but similar to that in 2020. The RSV-positive rate differences among the 3 years varied by age group. Regarding the monthly distribution of RSV-positive cases over the 3-year study, all age groups showed a significant increase in the number of cases during the winter of 2021, and this increase started as early as October. With regard to clinical manifestations, the proportion of children presenting with stuffy nose rhinorrhea in 2021 [73.33% (165/225)] was greater than that in 2019 [48.61% (122/251)] and 2020 [57.06% (97/170)], while the proportion of children with gastrointestinal symptoms in 2021 [11.56% (26/225)] was smaller than that in 2019 [25.50% (64/251)] but similar to that in 2020 [17.06% (29/170)]. Conclusions: After the implementation of COVID-19 pandemic-related interventions, significantly lower pathogen detection and RSV-positive rates were observed in children with bronchiolitis in 2020. An upward trend in these rates was observed in 2021, coinciding with the relaxation of COVID-19 prevention measures. Strengthening infection control and surveillance systems is extremely important for future work.
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Jiang et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Bronchiolitis (n=646). COVID-19 pandemic and associated non-pharmaceutical interventions vs. Pre-pandemic period (2019) was evaluated on Pathogen detection rate (p=<0.001). The COVID-19 pandemic and associated interventions were associated with a significant drop in the pathogen detection rate for bronchiolitis in 2020 (45.29%) compared to 2019 (56.57%), followed by a rebound in 2021 (73.78%).
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