MANAGEMENT OF BRONCHIOLITIS IN INFANTS IN FRANCE - A NATIONAL MULTICENTER STUDY

The aim of the second part of the multicenter epidemiological study on bronchiolitis conducted during the winter 92-93 in France was to analyze and compare the management of bronchiolitis in 16 different hospitals. Overall, 1278 cases of bronchiolitis were hospitalized. The mean age was 6.5 months. The mean length of hospitalization was 5.6 days and the duration was correlated with the detection of respiratory syncytia( virus. No evidence of consensus in the choice of the different treatment modalities was observed except for physiotherapy which was prescribed in move than 95% of the cases. The other modalities were mentioned with the following frequencies : salbutamol aerosol 71%, oral corticosteroids 45.1%, antibiotics 75.7%, and important differences were observed among the 16 hospitals. The antibiotic regimen mostly used was the association amoxicillin + clavulanate acid (45.9%) and again, important differences were observed among the hospitals. These results underline the need for clinical studies in order to clarify the treatment of bronchiolitis.