Evaluating the Outcomes of Bronchiolitis in Iraqi Children and Identifying Complications Associated with Bronchiolitis

Abstract

Background: Bronchiolitis is the most frequent acute respiratory infection of the lower respiratory tract in children under one year and accounts for 20% of all pediatric hospitalizations. Objective: This study was contributed to evaluate and analyse clinical outcomes related to Iraqi children with bronchiolitis and determine complications and risk factors. Patients and methods: Clinical data were collected from different hospitals in Iraq for a period ranging from February 14, 2022, to August 28, 2023, which included 80 children with bronchiolitis, whose ages ranged between 0 – 11 years, and each body mass index classification was underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity. Moreover, all children underwent clinical diagnostics, which included chest X-ray, pulse oximetry, and nasopharyngeal swab to determine the severity of bronchiolitis, its spread, and impact, and to determine the clinical outcomes in the hospital and the therapeutic and developmental results of children with bronchiolitis. This study determined complications, mortality rates, therapeutic outcomes, and the impact of risk factors on pediatric. Results: Our enrolled clinical of children who were admitted into hospitals which found 41.25% of total patients were children within ages (0 – 3) years; most symptoms prevalence at children were difficulty breathing with 25 cases and fever with 20 cases, as well as the common comorbidities had hypertension had five children, asthma had five children, and HIV had ten children, where paternal smoking got 32 cases while past history of admission got 24 cases, rate of children was 20% had mild bronchiolitis, 40 % had moderate bronchiolitis, and 24% had a severe, length of stay in hospital with less than nine days were 72 children while the length of stay in hospital with greater than nine days were eight children, as well rate of cured included 85% while rate of death included 15%. Conclusion: The current study indicates that bronchiolitis is a common disease that is widespread among children in our country, which reinforces the risk factors and the lack of early treatment resulting in risky cases of hospitalization, the danger of which lies in the high rate of complications that lead to death