Hospitalizations are often required in patients with Primary immunodeficiencies (PID), especially before the diagnosis. Immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IgRT) is standard treatment in majority cases.
Aim: To compare the frequency of hospitalization in children with PID previous to intravenous IgRT at Children´s Hospital of Brasilia–Brazil (pre- IgRT) with one-year period after initial IgRT (post-IgRT).
Medical reports during a 7-year period were reviewed. Comparisons between the groups were carried out using the Wilcoxon test.
Thirty-eight children were studied, aged 1-16yo, of whom 24 (63%) were males. Specific antibody deficiency and unclassified hypogammaglobulinemia were the predominant diagnosis (30% and 20%, respectively). X-linked agammaglobulinemia, Hyper IgE syndrome, Class-Switchrecombination defects , transient hypogammaglobulinemia of infancy, and Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID ) were also reported, in a low frequency. Mean ages at onset symptoms were 9mo, first consultation was at 63mo and the initial IgRT at 70mo. Thirty-six (97%) patients were hospitalized before IgRT, and 10 patients (27%) after. The hospitalization total for all the 38 patients was 211 (pre-IgRT) and 29 (post-IgRT) (p<0.0001). The length of stay at hospital for all the 38 patients pre-IgRT was 3102 days, of which 856 days were at PICU; at post-IgRT, 399 days at hospital was the number of days children spent at hospital of which, and 15 days at PICU (p<0.001).
One-year IgRT had a significantly decreased the number of hospitalizations, length of stay at hospital, as well as at PICU, in our cohort . Social and economic impacts would be required.