Epidemiology and clinical features of respiratory adenoviral infections in children

This study was aimed to describe the epidemiology, clinical features, and prognosis of respiratory adenoviral infections among children in Suzhou, China. From 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2012, medical records of 474 hospitalized patients with respiratory adenovirus infection were reviewed retrospectively. From 2006 to 2012, the virus positive rate was 1.42, 0.82, 1.45, 1.54, 0.77, 1.63, and 0.78 %, respectively; there was no outbreak in Suzhou throughout the 7 years. Adenovirus was detected in almost every month of the year with a peak from March to August. The median age was 36 months (range, 2 days–13 years); 89 % of the infections were confined to children <7 years of age, positive rates in patients between 2 ∼ 7 years of age and patients >7 years of age were higher than that of patients <2 years of age (P < 0.002). Comparisons of the length of hospital stay using the log-rank test statistic demonstrated patients <2 years had a significantly longer length of hospital stay (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The study demonstrates that respiratory adenovirus infection is an important cause of hospitalization in young children. Patients less than 2 years old were associated with prolonged hospitalization.