Laboratory epidemiology of respiratory viruses in a large children's hospital

Acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) is the most common causes of outpatient visit and hospital admission for children. The study aimed to report epidemiological data on respiratory viruses in a university-affiliated children's hospital. The study was a retrospective study conducted in a university affiliated children's hospital from 2016 May to 2017 April. The results of all nasopharyngeal swab and sputum samples sent for the test for respiratory viruses (adenovirus, influenza A, influenza B, and respiratory syncytial virus) were extracted from the electronic healthcare records. Clinical characteristics were compared between groups with positive versus negative results for respiratory viruses. Multivariable regression models were employed by including age, gender, type of sample (swab vs sputum), source (emergency department vs others), and season to explore the independent factors associated with positive results for respiratory viruses. A total of 34,961 samples were identified during the study period. A total of 3102 (8.9%) samples were positive for adenovirus, 2811 (8.0%) were positive for influenza A, 3460 (9.9%) were positive for influenza B, and 4527 (13.0%) were positive for respiratory syncytial virus. The positive rate of adenovirus was highest in April (50.8%), and lowest in November (3%). The absolute number of positive samples for adenovirus was highest in June (n = 587) and April (n = 544). For the test of influenza A, age was independently associated with positive result. With 1 year increase in age, the odds of positive result increased by 12% (odds ratio [OR]: 1.12; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.11–1.13; P < .001). As compared with the autumn, the summer showed significantly lower rate of positive for RSV (OR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.38–0.62; P < .001), whereas the winter had higher risk of positive result (OR: 3.88; 95% CI: 3.37–4.50; P < .001). The study reported epidemiological data on the prevalence of respiratory viruses in a large tertiary care children's hospital. Age, gender, type of sample, source, and season were associated with the positive rates for respiratory viruses.