Juan Sebastián Barajas-Romero, Mario Andrés Reyes-Téllez, Juan Camilo Jaramillo-Bustamante, Oscar Gómez-Lund, Mónica Decía, Nicolás Monteverde-Fernández, Jesús Alberto Serra, Paula Caporal, Rubén Lasso-Palomino, Eliana Zemanate Zuñiga, Javier Martínez, Soledad Menta, Luis Martínez-Arroyo, Hernán Herrera-Salazar, Francisca Castro-Zamorano, Cristóbal Carvajal, Roberto Jabornisky, Pablo Cruces, Franco Díaz, Sebastián González-Dambrauskas, Pablo Vásquez-Hoyos, Red Colaborativa Pediátrica de Latinoamérica (LARed Network)
In this multicenter Latin American PICU cohort, adenovirus-only detection was associated with a higher-risk acute course than RSV-only detection, including higher mortality and worse functional status at PICU discharge.
BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) commonly causes severe lower respiratory tract disease. Adenovirus is detected less often, but severe pneumonia may occur. The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) course associated with adenovirus detection compared with RSV-only detection is not well defined.
METHODS: We studied clinician-tested, virus-positive PICU admissions of children aged 1 month to 18 years from 37 PICUs in 7 Latin American countries (2017-2025). Children with RSV and/or adenovirus detection who used respiratory support were grouped as RSV-only, adenovirus-only or RSV-adenovirus codetection. The primary outcome was PICU death or worse functional status at discharge. Adjusted associations were estimated with logistic regression; Firth penalization was used for mortality.
RESULTS: Among 3196 PICU admissions, 2859 had RSV-only, 257 adenovirus-only and 80 codetection. PICU mortality was 12/257 (4.7%) in adenovirus-only, 13/2859 (0.5%) in RSV-only and 2/80 (2.5%) in codetection. Compared with RSV-only detection, adenovirus-only detection was associated with mortality [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 10.56; 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.57-24.43] and with PICU death or worse functional status at discharge [21/222 (9.5%) vs 45/2308 (1.9%); adjusted OR: 6.57; 95% CI: 3.59-12.03]. Among nonsurvivors, the median PICU day of death was 3 (IQR: 2-6) with adenovirus-only detection and 8 (IQR: 3-9) with RSV-only detection.
CONCLUSIONS: In this multicenter Latin American PICU cohort, adenovirus-only detection was associated with a higher-risk acute course than RSV-only detection, including higher mortality and worse functional status at PICU discharge.