Epidemiological and Clinical Features of Patients Suffering from Severe Pneumonia Caused by RSV in the Respiratory Center of the Viet Nam National Children's Hospital

Background/Purpose: Pneumonia is a common respiratory and life-threatening disease in pediatrics. Virus is an important cause of pneumonia in children, of which Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause. The aim of this research is to access the clinical, epidemiological features and risk factors of patients suffering from RSV severe pneumonia. Methods: We studied 250 patients suffering from severe pneumonia caused by RSV from June 2019 to December 2019 in the Respiratory Center of the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital. Results: In Respiratory Center of our hospital, 3472 hospitalizations caused by pneumonia occurred in the last 6 months in 2019; 7.2% of these caused by RSV severe pneumonia. Pneumonia caused by RSV occurred most in male (66,7%), the rate of male/female = 2/1. The mean age was 4,94 ± 6,04  months. The prevalence of RSV in age groups is, respectively, as follows: less than 3 months (21,3%), from 3 months to 6 months (23,4%), from 6 months to 12 months (27%), from 12 months to 24 months (19%), over 2 years (9,3%). The most common symptoms which were accounted for over 80% were rhinorrhea, cough, wheeze, tachypnea and chest recession. The rate of admission increased sharply in December with 25.1% of cases. All hospitalized patients had respiratory distress symptoms with the frequent changes in blood gas, accounting for 59.2% of hypercapnia. The mean of hospitalization was 6,2 ± 7,4 days. Conclusion: the rate of RSV infection increased in the last 6 months in 2019. Most of patients who less than 1 year of age were admitted to hospital because of severe clinical symptoms and respiratory distress. Risk factors were related to the severity of RSV severe pneumonia were: premature, mal-nutrition, bronchopulmonary dysplasia.