Published online Dec 16, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i35.8284
Peer-review started: September 22, 2023
First decision: October 9, 2023
Revised: October 12, 2023
Accepted: December 4, 2023
Article in press: December 4, 2023
Published online: December 16, 2023
Processing time: 83 Days and 2.3 Hours
Bronchiolitis is a common lower respiratory tract infection in infants and young children. Severe cases may be accompanied by obvious dyspnea and oxygen saturation decline.
To summarize the clinical features, standard diagnosis, and treatment of bronchiolitis.
This is a retrospective analysis of 114 pediatric patients (74 males, 40 females) who were first diagnosed as having bronchioles at the Department of Pediatrics of Tongling Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2019 to December 2019. The clinical features, imaging features, treatment, and other clinical data were recorded and analyzed.
The age of onset of the disease was mainly from 1 mo to 6 mo (75.4%), and the time to hospital visit was mostly from the 2nd day to the 4th day of the course of the disease (75.4%). Lung imaging examination showed increase in lung texture, fuzzy (93.8%). The main treatment was atomization therapy: Budesonide combined with terbutaline (45.6%) and budesonide combined with salbutamol (38.5%). The average hospitalization time was 7.1 ± 2.4 d, and the overall cure rate was 94.7%. In patients without bacterial infection, the use of antibiotics significantly prolonged the length of hospital stay (7.8 ± 2.5 d vs 5.7 ± 1.8 d) and improved the cure rate (98.3% vs 87.9%, P < 0.05).
Infants with bronchiolitis are mainly male and tend to have a good prognosis. However, the unneeded use of antibiotics may prolong the length of hospital stay significantly, which imposes the burden both on the patients and hospital system.
Core Tip: A retrospective analysis of the data of infants and young children with bronchiolitis showed that the disease had a male gender preference, the age of onset was relatively young, and the prognosis was good. Through comparative analysis of the use of antibiotics in infants and young children with bronchiolitis without bacterial infection, it was found that there was controversy over the abuse of antibiotics in the treatment of the disease. Increasing the use of antibiotics can improve the cure rate of patients, but it will prolong the length of hospital stay, and there is controversy over unreasonable use of medical resources.