Weight Status and Risk of Inpatient Admission for Children With Lower Respiratory Tract Disease

Abstract

OBJECTIVES To identify associations between weight category and hospital admission for lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD), defined as asthma, community-acquired pneumonia, viral pneumonia, or bronchiolitis, among children evaluated in pediatric emergency departments (PEDs). METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study of children 2 to <18 years of age evaluated in the PED at 6 children’s hospitals within the PEDSnet clinical research network from 2009 to 2019. BMI percentile of children was classified as underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and class 1, 2, or 3 obesity. Children with complex chronic conditions were excluded. Mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression was used to assess associations between BMI categories and hospitalization or 7- and 30-day PED revisits, adjusted for covariates (age, sex, race and ethnicity, and payer). RESULTS Among 107 446 children with 218 180 PED evaluations for LRTD, 4.5% had underweight, 56.4% had healthy normal weight, 16.1% had overweight, 14.6% had class 1 obesity, 5.5% had class 2 obesity, and 3.0% had class 3 obesity. Underweight was associated with increased risk of hospital admission compared with normal weight (odds ratio [OR] 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.69–1.84). Overweight (OR 0.87; 95% CI 0.85–0.90), class 1 obesity (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.85–0.91), and class 2 obesity (OR 0.91; 95% CI 0.87–0.96) had negative associations with hospital admission. Class 1 and class 2, but not class 3, obesity had small positive associations with 7- and 30-day PED revisits. CONCLUSIONS We found an inverse relationship between patient weight category and risk for hospital admission in children evaluated in the PED for LRTD.