Introduction:

acute bronchiolitis is a common disease with a high rate of hospitalization.

Objective:

to analyze the clinical characteristics, risk factors, and viral etiology in children under 18 months of age hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis at a referral hospital.

Methodology:

this was a descriptive, retrospective and correlational study of 80 infants under 18 months of age with acute bronchiolitis, hospitalized in the Pediatric Emergency Department of the National Hospital, from July/2021-September/2022. Infants of both sexes with a positive nasopharyngeal swab for respiratory viruses were included, excluding those hospitalized in other wards.

Sampling:

was non-probabilistic for convenience. The data were analyzed with EPI INFO7: for qualitative variables, absolute and relative frequencies were calculated, and for quantitative variables, median and interquartile range. To compare the continuous quantitative variables, the Mann-Whitney test was used, for the qualitative variables the Chi2 test, establishing a significance level of p < 0.05.

Results:

a total of 80 infants were included, median age: 2 months (IQR: 1-6), 53.75 % male. Risk factors were: age less than 3 months, 52.5 %, absence of exclusive breastfeeding 51.2 %, malnutrition 41 %, immunodeficiency 38.5 %, prematurity 37.5 %. The most frequent complications were pneumonia (40 %) and dehydration (11.2 %), the most frequent viruses were respiratory syncytial virus (78.4 %) and adenovirus (17 %). 80 % had severe bronchiolitis.

Conclusions:

acute bronchiolitis was more frequent in male children under 3 months of age. The most prevalent etiological agents were respiratory syncytial virus and adenovirus, the most observed complication was pneumonia. 80 % had severe forms.

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