Incidence of Respiratory Disease During the First Two Years of Life in Children with Hemodynamically Significant Congenital Heart Disease in Italy: A Retrospective Study

• Published in: Pediatric cardiology 2016-12, Vol.37 (8), p.1581-1589
• Main Authors: Pongiglione, Giacomo, Possidoni, Alessandro, di Luzio Paparatti, Umberto, Costanzo, Anna Maria, Gualberti, Giuliana, Bonvicini, Marco, Rimini, Alessandro, Agnoletti, Gabriella, Calabrò, Maria Pia, Pozzi, Marco, Tumbarello, Roberto, Salice, Patrizia, Fiorini, Patrizio, Russo, Maria Giovanna, Milanesi, Ornella
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies, Monoclonal; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; Antiviral Agents; Cardiac Surgery; Cardiology; Child; Children's furniture; Congenital heart disease; Diseases; Female; Heart; Heart Defects, Congenital; Heart diseases; Hospitalization; Humans; Incidence; Italy; Lung diseases; Male; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medicine, Experimental; Original Article; Palivizumab; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections; Retrospective Studies; Vascular Surgery
• ISSN: 0172-0643; 1432-1971
• DOI: 10.1007/s00246-016-1473-9

Children affected by hemodynamically significant congenital heart disease (HSCHD) experience severe respiratory complications that can increase the frequency of hospitalizations. The aim of the SINERGY study was to describe the incidence of respiratory diseases and to collect information on active and passive immunoprophylaxis in the first 2 years of life. In this retrospective, multicenter, and epidemiologic study, children with HSCHD were enrolled across 11 Italian sites. Children born between December 31, 2007, and December 31, 2012, were observed during their first 2 years of life. Data were collected through hospital database searches and parent interviews. Four hundred twenty children were enrolled: 51.7 % were female, 79.5 % were born full-term (≥37 weeks), and 77.6 % weighed >2500 g at birth. The most frequent heart defects were ventricular septal defect (23.1 %) and coarctation of the aorta (14.3 %). The incidence of respiratory diseases was 63.1 %. Frequent respiratory diseases not requiring hospitalization were upper respiratory tract infections (76.4 %), acute bronchitis (43.3 %), and influenza (22.1 %), while those requiring hospitalization were bronchitis and bronchiolitis (8.3 % each one). While active immunoprophylaxis was applied with wide compliance (diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus, 99.5 %; Haemophilus influenzae type b, 72.5 %; pneumococcus, 79.9 %; meningococcus, 77.4 %), only 54 % of children received respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) passive prophylaxis (palivizumab). Of the 35 hospitalizations due to bronchiolitis, 27 (77.1 %) did not receive prophylaxis against RSV, compared with 8 (22.9 %) who received prophylaxis ( P