Epidemiology of bronchiolitis: a description of emergency department visits and hospitalizations in Puerto Rico, 2010–2014

• Published in: Tropical Medicine and Health
• Main Authors: Andrea Rivera-Sepulveda, Enid J. Garcia-Rivera
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2017
• Subjects: Bronchiolitis; Pediatric; Children; Epidemiology; Hospitalization; Puerto Rico; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; San Juan
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41182-017-0064-7; https://doaj.org/article/dfb5896113c24dea90d6f6c258b42d9c

Abstract Background Little is known about the epidemiology of bronchiolitis as a clinical diagnosis and its impact on emergency department visits and hospitalizations in tropical and semitropical regions. We described the epidemiology of bronchiolitis emergency visits and hospitalizations, its temporal trend and geographic distribution in Puerto Rico between 2010 and 2014. Methods We performed a retrospective descriptive analysis of a representative sample of privately insured children with bronchiolitis from January 2010 to December 2014. Data was provided by the largest private health insurer in Puerto Rico and identified children < 24 months of age with bronchiolitis by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code 466, 466.11, and 466.19. Chi-square and one-way ANOVA compared sex, age, diagnosis, and severity across the years. Joinpoint Poisson regression analysis evaluated the temporal trend distribution of bronchiolitis hospitalizations per calendar year. A P value less than 0.05 was statistically significant. Results During the study period, the annual proportion of emergency department visits and hospitalizations due to bronchiolitis increased from 3 to 5%, and 26 to 38%, respectively. The annual incidence rate of hospitalizations was 3.2 per 1000 privately insured children < 24 months. Non-RSV bronchiolitis was the most frequent diagnosis (51%). Hospitalizations occurred year-round, but increased significantly from August through December. Most children hospitalized resided in the metropolitan San Juan (35%) and surrounding urban areas. Total hospital charges decreased from $3.78 to $3.74 million, with an average cost per hospitalization of $4320.12 (11.3% increase; P = 0.0015). Conclusions This is the first study that evaluates the epidemiological characteristics of bronchiolitis in a primarily Hispanic population, living in a tropical country, and using data from a privately insured population. We found a small but significant increase in proportion of emergency visits and ...