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Published on: August 25, 2014
Descriptive analysis of infant population younger than 1 year admitted for BRUE
Insights
The brief resolved unexplained event (BRUE) criteria help identify high-risk infants, reducing unnecessary tests for low-risk cases. This study found low-risk BRUE infants required no further examination, with normal test results.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Emergency Medicine
Background:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics defined high- and low-risk brief resolved unexplained events (BRUE) in 2016 for infants under one year.
- Low-risk BRUE cases typically involve monitoring in the emergency room without further systematic examination.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify high- and low-risk BRUE events in infants admitted to Angers University Hospital Center.
- To analyze the medical care provided for these BRUE cases.
Main Methods:
- An observational, retrospective, descriptive, single-center study was conducted.
- Infants under one year admitted for unexplained events between January 2017 and December 2019 were identified using patient databases.
Main Results:
- Out of 203 infants presenting with fainting, 54 met BRUE criteria (40 high-risk, 14 low-risk).
- All complementary examinations for low-risk BRUE infants were normal.
- Two low-risk BRUE patients experienced recurrent, non-severe fainting episodes months later.
Conclusions:
- Applying BRUE criteria aids in standardizing practices for infant unexplained events.
- The criteria help limit unnecessary examinations and hospitalizations for low-risk BRUE infants.
Introduction:
In 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics defined the brief resolved unexplained event (BRUE) of high and low risk to characterize fainting in infants under 1 year of age. In the case of low-risk BRUE, it is recommended to perform no further systematic examination, but to monitor the child with a saturometer in the emergency room for 1-4 h.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to identify events corresponding to high- and low-risk BRUE criteria for infants admitted to the Angers University Hospital Center, and to analyze their medical care.
Method:
We conducted an observational, retrospective, descriptive and single-center study of the population of infants younger than 1 year admitted for an unexplained event to the Pediatric Emergency Department of Angers University Hospital Center between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2019. Two patient databases were crossed to identify patients.
Results:
Among the 203 patients presenting for fainting, 54 patients met the criteria for BRUE, including 40 high-risk BRUE and 14 low-risk BRUE cases. All complementary examinations performed on low-risk BRUE children were normal. Two of these patients had a recurrence of non-severe fainting several months after the first episode.
Conclusion:
Identification of infants according to the BRUE criteria helps to harmonize practices and to limit the number of complementary examinations or hospitalizations for low-risk BRUE.
