Backgrounds:

Acute bronchiolitis is one of the most common causes of hospitalization in infants under 2 years old. Respiratory syncytial virus is the most frequently identified virus in bronchiolitis, followed by rhinovirus, adenovirus, parainfluenzae virus, and coronavirus.

Objectives: To compare the burden of bronchiolitis before COVID 19 pandemic, and during the pandemic in Brasov county, to evaluate the need for antibiotics, corticosteroid therapy and inhalation therapy at the studied population.

Methods

Prospective ongoing study was conducted on infants and toddlers under 2 years of age hospitalized between 1 January 2019 - 31 December 2021 at the Children’s Emergency Clinical Hospital Brasov for Bronchiolitis.

Results:

We included in our study a total of 1410 patients (643 - 2019, 302 – 2020, 465 – 2021). Most of the patients with bronchiolitis were boys (62.83% - 2019, 55.5% - 2020) and came from rural part. Average length of hospitalizations for Bronchiolitis was 7.20. The therapy administered in our hospital was: inhalation therapy - hypertonic saline, nebulized bronchodilators or epinephrine, corticosteroids 77.82% - 2019, 80.13% - 2020, antibiotics 46.95% - 2019, 63,24 % - 2020.

Conclusions/Learning Points:

The number of bronchiolitis decreased by half in pandemic years due to preventive hygiene measures, use of facial masks, social distancing and lockdown.