Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul;57(7):1770-1775.
doi: 10.1002/ppul.25919. Epub 2022 May 3.

Low lymphocyte count: A clinical severity marker in infants with bronchiolitis

Luigi Matera  1 , Raffaella Nenna  1 , Antonella Frassanito  1 , Laura Petrarca  1 , Enrica Mancino  1 , Valentina Rizzo  1 , Greta Di Mattia  1 , Domenico Paolo La Regina  1 , Alessandra Pierangeli  2 , Fabio Midulla  1
Affiliations

Low lymphocyte count: A clinical severity marker in infants with bronchiolitis

Luigi Matera et al. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Bronchiolitis is the most frequent cause of hospitalization in infants younger than 1 year of age. We sought to evaluate the correlation between lymphocyte count and clinical manifestation in infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis.

Materials and methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study evaluating 1297 children hospitalized for bronchiolitis from 2004 to 2019. A nasal washing was tested for 14 respiratory viruses by PCR. A clinical severity score, ranging 0-8, was assigned at hospital admission. History and clinical course were recorded for each infant. Patients were divided in 3 groups according to lymphocyte count tertiles. Parents of enrolled patients have been phoned annually over 5 years to evaluate respiratory sequelae.

Results: A total of 433 children had 2914.2 ± 745.5/mm3 lymphocytes (Group 1), 432 had 4897.6 ± 561.5/mm3 lymphocytes (Group 2) and 432 had 7884 ± 1903.3/mm3 lymphocytes (Group 3). Group 1 patients were more frequently infected by RSV and presented with fever, a worse clinical severity score. They more frequently needed oxygen supplementation, underwent a prolonged hospitalization needed to be admitted to pediatric intensive care unit. Finally, they had more frequently a family history of eczema, wheezing and asthma. We found no differences between lymphocytes count and respiratory sequelae (at least two episodes of wheezing per year).

Conclusions: Infants with low lymphocyte count are more likely to have a worse clinical course of bronchiolitis.

Keywords: RSV; bronchiolitis; clinical severity marker; lymphocyte count; oxygen supplementation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Petrarca L, Nenna R, Frassanito A, et al. Acute bronchiolitis: influence of viral co-infection in infants hospitalized over 12 consecutive epidemic seasons. J Med Virol. 2018;90(4):631-638.
    1. Ralston SL, Lieberthal AS, Meissner HC, et al. Clinical Practice Guideline: the diagnosis, management and prevention of bronchiolitis. Pediatrics. 2014;134(5):e1474-e1502.
    1. Jain S, Williams DJ, Sandra R. Community-acquired pneumonia requiring hospitalization among U.S. children. N Engl J Med. 2015;372:835-845.
    1. Cody Meissner H, Ingelfinger JR. Viral bronchiolitis in children. N Engl J Med. 2016;374:62-72.
    1. Meissner HC. Selected populations at increased risk from respiratory syncytial virus infection. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2003;22:40-45.

LinkOut - more resources