Urgent air transfers for acute respiratory infections among children from Northern Canada, 2005–2014

• Published in: PLOS ONE
• Main Authors: Prendergast, Caitlin, Robinson, Joan, Caya, Chelsea, Perez Trejo, Maria E., Guan, Iline, Hébert-Murakami, Veronica, Marianayagam, Justina, Wong, Zing-Wae, Walker, Celia, Goldfarb, David M., Barrowman, Nick, Jetty, Radha, Embree, Joanne, Papenburg, Jesse
• Other Authors: Vousden, George, Fonds de recherche Québec – santé, The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022
• Subjects: Nunavut; Nunavik
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272154; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272154

Background The incidence of hospitalizations for acute respiratory infections (ARI) among young Indigenous children from Northern Canada is consistently high. ARIs requiring urgent air transfer can be life-threatening and costly. We aimed to describe their epidemiology, estimate age-specific incidences, and explore factors associated with level of care required. Methods We undertook a retrospective cohort study of children <5 years old from Northern Canada transferred by urgent air transport for ARI from 2005 through 2014 to 5 pediatric tertiary care centers in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal. Admissions were identified via ARI-related ICD-9/10 coding and forward sortation area. Descriptive statistics and univariable analyses were performed. Results Among 650 urgent air transfers, the majority were from Nunavut (n = 349, 53.7%) or Nunavik (n = 166, 25.5%), <6 months old (n = 372, 57.2%), and without underlying comorbidity (n = 458; 70.5%). Estimated annual tertiary care ARI admission rates in infants <1 year old from Nunavut (40.7/1000) and Nunavik (44.5/1000) were tenfold higher than in children aged 1 to 4 years. Bronchiolitis (n = 333, 51.2%) and pneumonia (n = 208, 32.0%) were the most common primary discharge diagnoses. Nearly half required critical care (n = 316, 48.6%); mechanical ventilation rates ranged from 7.2% to 55.9% across centres. The most common primary pathogen was respiratory syncytial virus (n = 196, 30.1%). Influenza A or B was identified in 35 cases (5.4%) and vaccine-preventable bacterial infections in 27 (4.1%) cases. Interpretation Urgent air transfers for ARI from Northern Canada are associated with high acuity. Variations in levels of care were seen across referral centers, age groups and pathogens.