#66 Clinical characteristics and outcomes of children with single or co-detected rhinovirus-associated acute respiratory infection in Middle Tennessee
Authors: Amarin Justin Z 
Published: June 2022

Background

Rhinovirus (RV) is one of the most common viral etiologies of acute respiratory infection (ARI)—the leading infectious cause of mortality in young children. Multiple respiratory viruses may be detected with RV in children with ARI, but the clinical significance of viral co-detection is unclear. We aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of children with ARI associated with RV-only detection or RV co-detection.

Method

We conducted a prospective viral surveillance study (11/2015–7/2016) in Nashville, Tennessee. Children &lt;18 years old who presented to the emergency department (ED) or were hospitalized with fever and/or respiratory symptoms of &lt;14 days duration were eligible if they resided in one of nine selected counties in Middle Tennessee. Demographics and clinical characteristics were collected by parental interviews and medical chart abstractions. Nasal and/or throat specimens were collected and tested for RV, RSV, metapneumovirus, adenovirus, parainfluenza 1–4, and influenza A–C using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays. We compared clinical characteristics and outcomes of children with RV-only detection or RV co-detection using Pearson's χ2 test for categorical variables and linear regression with robust standard errors for continuous variables.

Results

Of 1,250 children who were enrolled, 904 (72.3%) were positive for at least one virus. RV was detected in 406 virus-positive children (44.9%), of whom 117 (28.8%) had RV co-detection. The most common RV co-detection pair was RV/RSV (n=36). The mean age of children with RV co-detection was lower than those with RV-only detection (2.6 ± 2.7 years vs. 4.3 ± 4.4 years; p&lt;0.001). The signs and symptoms of children with RV-only detection and those with RV co-detection are compared in Table 1. A total of 283 children with RV were discharged from the ED (69.7%), of whom 89 (31.4%) had RV co-detection. Children with RV co-detection who were discharged from the ED were less likely to have a diagnosis of asthma/reactive airway disease (RAD) than those with RV-only detection (10.1% vs. 21.6%; p=0.019) but more likely to be diagnosed with bronchiolitis (18.0% vs. 1.5%; p&lt;0.001). Of the 123 hospitalized children with RV, 28 (22.8%) had RV co-detection. Hospitalized children with RV co-detection were less likely to have an admission diagnosis of asthma/RAD than those with RV-only detection (7.1% vs. 43.2%; p&lt;0.001) but more likely to be diagnosed with bronchiolitis (32.1% vs. 14.7%; p=0.038) and pneumonia (32.1% vs. 8.4%; p&lt;0.001). We did not identify differences in hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, supplemental oxygen use, or length of stay between children with RV-only detection and RV co-detection.

Conclusion

We did not find evidence that RV co-detection was associated with worse outcomes in children with ARI. However, the clinical presentation of children with RV co-detection differs from that of children with RV-only detection. These distinctions warrant consideration in the diagnostic evaluation and management of RV-positive children. Further studies are needed to describe the distinct clinical presentations of RV/non-RV pairs and RV species.