Factors influencing length of stay of children with severe acute respiratory infection in a hospital in Zhoushan City

Objective To study the epidemiological characteristics of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in children under 5 years old and factors influencing length of stay in hospital in Zhoushan City. Methods We recruited 352 SARI children below 5 years old and hospitalized in pediatric wards from Feb. 2013 to Feb. 2014. Cases’nasopharyngeal aspirate specimens were sampled for laboratory testing. Meanwhile, medical history and clinical characteristics were also collected by questionnaire. The factors influencing length of stay were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Results The main clinical manifestations of SARI children were fever (100.00%, 352/352) , cough (67.05%, 236/352) , pharyngalgia (44.03%, 155/352) and anhelation (22.73%, 80/352) . The positive rate of influenza virus was 8.20% (29 cases) , mainly in influenza A virus. The average length of stay was 7 (5, 8) days. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis demonstrated that cough (OR=2.443, 95%CI:1.323~4.513) , abnormality of lung (OR=1.395, 95%CI:1.125~1.730) and complications (OR=3.806, 95%CI:1.249~11.59) were associated with over 7-day hospital stays. Conclusions The positive detection rate of influenza virus in SARI children under the age of five is high in Zhoushan area, mainly in influenza A virus. Cough, abnormality of lung and complications are risk factors of the hospital stays. Key words: Respiratory tract infections; Epidemiological characteristics; Children; Hospital stays; Risk factor