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Author Spotlight: Advancements in Multiplex Detection of Respiratory Viruses
Published on: November 10, 2023
Influenza and other respiratory viruses: standardizing disease severity in surveillance and clinical trials
Barbara Rath1,2,3, Tim Conrad4, Puja Myles3
1a Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases , Vienna Vaccine Safety Initiative , Berlin , Germany.
Insights
A new clinical score, the ViVI Disease Severity Score, helps measure individual illness severity in children. This tool aids in tracking respiratory viral infections and assessing hospitalization risks.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric infectious diseases
- Clinical informatics
- Respiratory viral infections
Background:
- Influenza-like illness (ILI) is a major cause of pediatric hospitalizations.
- Current disease burden reporting is population-level, lacking individual clinical severity measures.
- There is an urgent need for tools to assess individual disease severity in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate the ViVI Disease Severity Score for pediatric patients.
- To enable individual patient data analysis of disease severity for respiratory viral infections.
- To provide a standardized clinical score compliant with regulatory data standards.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature review and WHO criteria for disease classification.
- Development of a 22-item composite clinical score (ViVI Score).
- Validation in a pediatric cohort of 6073 children (0-18 years).
Main Results:
- The ViVI Score demonstrated a normal distribution in the pediatric cohort.
- The score correlated with antibiotic use, hospitalization, and intensive care unit admission.
- The ViVI Score successfully tracked various respiratory viral infections, including influenza and RSV.
Conclusions:
- The ViVI Disease Severity Score is a validated tool for assessing individual disease severity in children.
- The score aids in risk stratification and clinical trial data management.
- A mobile application facilitates point-of-care use, enhancing clinical trial efficiency.
Introduction:
Influenza-Like Illness is a leading cause of hospitalization in children. Disease burden due to influenza and other respiratory viral infections is reported on a population level, but clinical scores measuring individual changes in disease severity are urgently needed. Areas covered: We present a composite clinical score allowing individual patient data analyses of disease severity based on systematic literature review and WHO-criteria for uncomplicated and complicated disease. The 22-item ViVI Disease Severity Score showed a normal distribution in a pediatric cohort of 6073 children aged 0-18 years (mean age 3.13; S.D. 3.89; range: 0 to 18.79). Expert commentary: The ViVI Score was correlated with risk of antibiotic use as well as need for hospitalization and intensive care. The ViVI Score was used to track children with influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus, human rhinovirus, and adenovirus infections and is fully compliant with regulatory data standards. The ViVI Disease Severity Score mobile application allows physicians to measure disease severity at the point-of care thereby taking clinical trials to the next level.
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