[Epidemiologic survey of infants hospitalized for bronchiolitis. Survey conducted by the ERBUS medical network].
BACKGROUND
Acute infant bronchiolitis is a frequent seasonal disease which peaks in December. It often requires hospital care in Paris and in its surroundings. The exceptional bronchiolitis epidemic of December 1991 brought about a temporary saturation of hospital bed space at the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP). Hereafter, in order to organize care more efficiently, an epidemiological observation network called ERBUS was set up.


METHODS
Thanks to daily reports of emergency pediatric admissions through the Minitel network, it has been possible to get real time information on the course of the past five epidemics in each of the 11 AP-HP hospitals with pediatric emergency units.


RESULTS
Globally the results point to a similar situation every year: approximately 60% boys, 35% babies under 6 months; the ratio of very young patients who are admitted to hospital is multiplied by 1.5 at the mid-point of and at the end of the epidemic compared with the beginning; 70% of the babies under 3 months are admitted to hospital. The ratio of patients who come and are admitted to hospital has been on the decrease every year since 1991: globally from 36.8% down to 28.6% in five years (from 75.1% down to 65.3% among babies under 3 months). The rhythm and intensity of the epidemic have risen sharply: in five years, the number of patients has increased by 119% and that of patients admitted to hospital by 69%, while the epidemic peaks are earlier and higher.


CONCLUSIONS
These statistics have actually been used to allocate additional resources in AP-HP hospitals during the epidemics. To avoid the saturation of bed space in the future, ambulatory care of patients not admitted to hospital should be favored.
Thélot
B
B
Délégation à l'information médicale et à l'épidémiologie, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris.
Bénichou
J J
JJ
Chéron
G
G
Chevallier
B
B
Bégué
P
P
Bourrillon
A
A
D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010297:Paris / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012744:Sex Ratio