Clinico-haematological profiles of children admitted with acute respiratory illness of viral origin during the adenovirus surge in Eastern India: A retrospective study

Introduction: Acute respiratory infections constitute a major burden of hospitalization and mortality in children under 5 years of age, and a fair bulk is viral in origin. Post-Covid, there is a considerable change observed in the behaviours of various respiratory viruses.
Objectives: To retrospectively analyse the clinico-haematological profile of children admitted with viral respiratory infections in a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. 
Method: Data of all children admitted with suspected acute respiratory illness of viral aetiology in the paediatric ward/paediatric intensive care unit from January 2023 to June 2023, and were tested for respiratory viral pathogens via a nasopharyngeal aspirate were retrieved. Data were statistically analysed and student t-test, chi-squares test and Pearson’s correlation matrix were used.
Results: In this study period, in Kolkata, adenovirus was the commonest respiratory virus leading to hospitalization in children, accounting for 54.7%. Prolonged high fever, red eye, signs of lower respiratory tract infection like respiratory distress and need for supplementary oxygen, were common presenting features. Some children also presented with features of haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Eosinopenia may predict severity in viral infections, which was statistically significant (p=0.006) for the adenovirus group of children. Pearson’s correlation matrix revealed that the parameter for types of viruses was significantly (p<0.01) negatively correlated with eosinopenia and significantly positively correlated with hospital stay (p<0.05) and oxygen support (p<0.01). Eosinopenia was negatively correlated with hospital stay and positively correlated with oxygen support without significant change. Hospital stay was significantly (p<0.05) positively correlated with oxygen support.
Conclusions: There was a close association between types of viruses, especially adenovirus with eosinopenia, oxygen support and longer hospital stay.