From the Tampere University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology.
Tampere Centre for Child, Adolescent and Maternal Health Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2022 Nov 1;41(11):867-871. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000003662. Epub 2022 Jul 28.
Bronchiolitis, a lower respiratory tract infection, causes a remarkable number of hospitalizations globally. The epidemiology follows the same pattern as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the most common pathogen in bronchiolitis. Epidemics have typically followed a biannual pattern in Nordic countries-first, a small epidemic during spring, followed by a higher peak the next autumn. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the incidence of bronchiolitis hospitalization has changed during the last 2 decades in Tampere, Finland.
In this retrospective register-based study, data on infants <12 months of age hospitalized with bronchiolitis in 2000-2019 were collected from electronic files of Tampere University Hospital and analyzed by monthly incidences. Additionally, data on RSV incidences were collected from the Finnish National Infectious Diseases Register for children <5 years of age and living in the study area. Poisson's regression analysis was used to evaluate changes in the incidence rates of bronchiolitis.
Of the 1481 infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis, 82.0% had a diagnosis of RSV bronchiolitis. At first, bronchiolitis' epidemiological pattern followed its typical biannual pattern, then shifted to annual in the middle of the study period, and thereafter occurred biannually again. The highest incidence rate ratios compared to the low-incidence months were between December (22.5), January (25.8) and February (25.5) in 2000-2006, and between February (24.7), March (25.1) and April (21.0) in 2007-2019.
The epidemiological pattern of bronchiolitis changed during the study period; incidence peaks were higher and have shifted toward spring in recent years.
细支气管炎是一种下呼吸道感染，在全球范围内导致大量住院治疗。其流行病学模式与呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）相同，RSV 是细支气管炎最常见的病原体。在北欧国家，流行通常遵循两年一次的模式——首先是春季的小流行，然后是次年秋季的更高高峰。本研究旨在评估在芬兰坦佩雷，过去 20 年来细支气管炎住院的发病率是否发生了变化。
在这项回顾性基于登记的研究中，从坦佩雷大学医院的电子档案中收集了 2000-2019 年因细支气管炎住院的 <12 个月大的婴儿的数据，并按每月发病率进行分析。此外，还从芬兰国家传染病登记处收集了居住在研究地区的 <5 岁儿童的 RSV 发病率数据。采用泊松回归分析评估细支气管炎发病率的变化。
在 1481 名因细支气管炎住院的婴儿中，82.0%被诊断为 RSV 细支气管炎。起初，细支气管炎的流行病学模式遵循其典型的两年一次模式，然后在研究中期转变为年度模式，此后再次出现两年一次的模式。与低发月份相比，发病率最高的比率发生在 2000-2006 年的 12 月（22.5）、1 月（25.8）和 2 月（25.5），以及 2007-2019 年的 2 月（24.7）、3 月（25.1）和 4 月（21.0）。
在研究期间，细支气管炎的流行病学模式发生了变化；近年来，发病率高峰更高，并向春季转移。
