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Analysis of clinical characteristics and risk factors for death due to severe influenza in children

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European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

The study analyzed the clinical features of children who had severe influenza and discussed on the risk factors associated with death in this population.

Methods

A total of 167 children with severe influenza admitted to the intensive care unit of our hospital from January 2018 to August 2023 were selected and divided into the death group (27 cases) and the survival group (140 cases). Demographic characteristics and clinical data were collected and compared between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the risk factors for death in children with severe influenza.

Results

The male-to-female ratio of the 167 children with severe influenza was 2.21:1, the median age was 3 years, and influenza A accounted for 70.66%. The CD4+ T cells percentage and CD4/CD8 were lower in the death group; the percentage of comorbid underlying diseases, mechanical ventilation, other systemic involvement, comorbid associated encephalopathy or encephalitis, and red blood cell distribution width (RDW), lactate dehydrogenase, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and interleukin 6 were higher in the death group. The mechanical ventilation, associated encephalopathy or encephalitis, RDW, APTT, and CD4/CD8 were the independent risk factors for death.

Conclusion

Mechanical ventilation, comorbid encephalopathy or encephalitis, increased RDW, prolonged APTT, and decreased CD4/CD8 are independent risk factors for death in children with severe influenza.

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Data availability

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Henan Provincial Science and Technology Research Project (Grant number [ LHGJ20200620] and [LHGJ20220734]).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Henan Province Engineering Research Center of Diagnosis and Treatment of Pediatric Infection and Critical Care, Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, No. 1, South University Road, Erqi District, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China

    Ruiyang Sun, Xue Zhang, Wanyu Jia, Peng Li & Chunlan Song

Authors
  1. Ruiyang Sun
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  2. Xue Zhang
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  3. Wanyu Jia
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  4. Peng Li
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  5. Chunlan Song
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. CS, WJ, and PL conceptualized the study. RS and XZ analyzed the data. RS created relevant graphs and charts. XZ and WJ conducted background literature search and review. CS and PL verified the underlying data. RS drafted the article. CS, WJ, and RS participated in revising the article. All authors contributed to and reviewed the final submitted manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chunlan Song.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of our hospital with the ethical approval number 2023-K-117, and no private information of the children will be exposed in this paper. This is a retrospective study, and informed consent was difficult.

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Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Sun, R., Zhang, X., Jia, W. et al. Analysis of clinical characteristics and risk factors for death due to severe influenza in children. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 43, 567–575 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-024-04759-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-024-04759-1

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