Clinical analysis of 114 cases of bronchiolitis in infants

Abstract

BACKGROUND Bronchiolitis is a common lower respiratory tract infection in infants and young children. Severe cases may be accompanied by obvious dyspnea and oxygen saturation decline. AIM To summarize the clinical features, standard diagnosis, and treatment of bronchiolitis. METHODS This is a retrospective analysis of 114 pediatric patients (74 males, 40 females) who were first diagnosed as having bronchioles at the Department of Pediatrics of Tongling Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2019 to December 2019. The clinical features, imaging features, treatment, and other clinical data were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS The age of onset of the disease was mainly from 1 mo to 6 mo (75.4%), and the time to hospital visit was mostly from the 2nd day to the 4th day of the course of the disease (75.4%). Lung imaging examination showed increase in lung texture, fuzzy (93.8%). The main treatment was atomization therapy: Budesonide combined with terbutaline (45.6%) and budesonide combined with salbutamol (38.5%). The average hospitalization time was 7.1 ± 2.4 d, and the overall cure rate was 94.7%. In patients without bacterial infection, the use of antibiotics significantly prolonged the length of hospital stay (7.8 ± 2.5 d vs 5.7 ± 1.8 d) and improved the cure rate (98.3% vs 87.9%, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Infants with bronchiolitis are mainly male and tend to have a good prognosis. However, the unneeded use of antibiotics may prolong the length of hospital stay significantly, which imposes the burden both on the patients and hospital system.