Clinical characterisation and phylogeny of respiratory syncytial virus infection in hospitalised children at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Cape Town

Table 5 Characteristics associated with need for assisted ventilation

Characteristic	Assisted ventilation		No ventilation		P-value
	No	%	No	%
Age
< 6	45	76.3	115	68.9	0.18
≥ 6	14	23.7	52	31.1
Gender
Male	32	54.2	85	50.9	0.39
Female	27	45.8	82	49.1
Pre-existing condition
Yes	29	25.7	84	74.3	0.88
No	30	26.5	83	73.5
Weight-for-age z score
Normal	33	24.6	101	75.4	0.54
Underweight	26	28.3	66	71.7
HIV status
Infected	2	50.0	2	50.0	0.28
Uninfected	57	25.7	165	74.3
Co-pathogen
Yes	32	54.2	38	22.8	<0.001
No	27	45.8	129	77.2
RSV subtype
A	49	83.1	132	79.0
B	10	16.9	35	21.0
Pattern of infection
Nosocomial	10	16.9	12	7.2	0.03
Community-acquired	49	83.1	155	92.8
Median CRP (mg/L)	19.95		11.8		0.08
Median WCC (x 10⁹/L)	10.9		11.2		0.95
Median percent band cells (%)	10.0		8.0		0.01
Median Hb (g/dl)	11.6		10.9		0.18
Median Platelet count (x 10⁹/L)	382.0		424		0.01

Underweight: Weight-for-age z-score <2; CRP C-reactive protein, WCC White cell count, Hb Haemoglobin

ISSN: 1471-2334