Month-by-month age analysis of the risk for serious bacterial infections in febrile infants with bronchiolitis

Abstract

Objective: This study's aim was to assess the risk of serious bacterial infections (SBI) in each of the first 3 months in hospitalizes febrile infants with bronchiolitis.

Patients and methods: The risk of SBI was compared between hospitalized infant with or without bronchiolitis by age in months.

Results: A total of 1125 febrile infants aged ≤3 months were admitted during the study period, 948 without and 177 with bronchiolitis. The incidence of SBI was significantly lower among infants with bronchiolitis compared with those without (4% vs 12.2%, P < .001). However, within the subgroup of neonates with bronchiolitis aged ≤28 days, the incidence of SBI was 9.7% and was not significantly lower than in neonates without bronchiolitis.

Conclusion: The risk of SBI among febrile infants with bronchiolitis is significantly lower compared with febrile infants without bronchiolitis, but only after the neonatal period in which the risk for urinary tract infection was relatively high (9.7%).