Severity of Lower Respiratory Tract Illness in Infants;Final rept. 1 Jul 97-30 Jun 01

摘要

Lower respiratory tract illness (LRI) is the most common reason for hospitalization of infants. 35% of these episodes lead to hospitalization. Hospitalization of infants with LRI is costly, yet geographic variation in hospitalization rates varies widely. Risk of home care is low for most episodes, but consequences of adverse events for infants not hospitalized may be tragic. Specific aims were to develop a measure of respiratory system dysfunction in LRI of infants, termed the Acute Infant Respiratory Dysfunction Index (AIR-DI)$ to validate the AIR-DI$ and to develop a prediction rule for peak Air-DI based on observations available to physicians in settings where hospitalization decisions are made. The prediction rule, termed the Risk for Respiratory Dysfunction Score (RRD Score), was developed empirically from a derivation data set and assessed through a validation data set. The decision to hospitalize infants with LRI based on the RRD was analyzed.