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HONOLULU — Consider influenza testing in children hospitalized for asthma because children with both conditions have almost five times the chance of intubation or death, compared with asthmatic children without a comorbid condition, according to a poster at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.
Dr. Alan S. Weller and Dr. Kitaw Demissie of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, N.J., analyzed a nationally representative sample of 641,354 children, aged 2–17 years, who were included in the National Hospital Discharge Survey for 2001–2005. All were hospitalized primarily for asthma.
Of the 2,505 children with influenza in that group, 2% experienced an adverse outcome (intubation or death) with an adjusted odds ratio of 4.79 in the multivariate analysis, which corrected for age, race, gender, insurance, region, and comorbid conditions.
Influenza was the only comorbid condition that predicted adverse outcome. Children with sinusitis had a 63% lower chance of an adverse outcome, and those with upper respiratory infections had an 88% lower chance of an adverse outcome.
The investigators concluded that further studies would be required to characterize the role of these predictors and to formulate appropriate interventions for those in high-risk groups.
Dr. Weller disclosed no conflicts of interest related to this study.
HONOLULU — Consider influenza testing in children hospitalized for asthma because children with both conditions have almost five times the chance of intubation or death, compared with asthmatic children without a comorbid condition, according to a poster at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.
Dr. Alan S. Weller and Dr. Kitaw Demissie of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, N.J., analyzed a nationally representative sample of 641,354 children, aged 2–17 years, who were included in the National Hospital Discharge Survey for 2001–2005. All were hospitalized primarily for asthma.
Of the 2,505 children with influenza in that group, 2% experienced an adverse outcome (intubation or death) with an adjusted odds ratio of 4.79 in the multivariate analysis, which corrected for age, race, gender, insurance, region, and comorbid conditions.
Influenza was the only comorbid condition that predicted adverse outcome. Children with sinusitis had a 63% lower chance of an adverse outcome, and those with upper respiratory infections had an 88% lower chance of an adverse outcome.
The investigators concluded that further studies would be required to characterize the role of these predictors and to formulate appropriate interventions for those in high-risk groups.
Dr. Weller disclosed no conflicts of interest related to this study.
HONOLULU — Consider influenza testing in children hospitalized for asthma because children with both conditions have almost five times the chance of intubation or death, compared with asthmatic children without a comorbid condition, according to a poster at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.
Dr. Alan S. Weller and Dr. Kitaw Demissie of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, N.J., analyzed a nationally representative sample of 641,354 children, aged 2–17 years, who were included in the National Hospital Discharge Survey for 2001–2005. All were hospitalized primarily for asthma.
Of the 2,505 children with influenza in that group, 2% experienced an adverse outcome (intubation or death) with an adjusted odds ratio of 4.79 in the multivariate analysis, which corrected for age, race, gender, insurance, region, and comorbid conditions.
Influenza was the only comorbid condition that predicted adverse outcome. Children with sinusitis had a 63% lower chance of an adverse outcome, and those with upper respiratory infections had an 88% lower chance of an adverse outcome.
The investigators concluded that further studies would be required to characterize the role of these predictors and to formulate appropriate interventions for those in high-risk groups.
Dr. Weller disclosed no conflicts of interest related to this study.