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Exploring the Impact of Antibiotics on Fever Recovery Time and Hospital Stays in Children with Viral Infections:

Mohammed Al Qahtani1, Saleh Fahad AlFulayyih1, Sarah Saleh Al Baridi1

  • 1Department of Pediatric, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Dammam 31412, Saudi Arabia.

Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland)
|June 27, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Antibiotics did not speed up recovery for children with viral respiratory infections and actually increased hospital stays. Doctors should be cautious when prescribing antibiotics for these pediatric patients.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Clinical Pharmacology

Background:

  • Antibiotic overuse in pediatric upper respiratory tract infections (UR-TIs) contributes to antimicrobial resistance.
  • Viral UR-TIs are common in children, often leading to unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions.
  • Accurate diagnosis of viral infections is crucial to guide appropriate treatment and reduce antibiotic use.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of antibiotic use on hospital length of stay (LOS) and fever resolution in pediatric patients with confirmed viral respiratory infections.
  • To compare outcomes between children who received antibiotics and those who did not, using propensity score matching.
  • To identify factors influencing hospital stay duration in pediatric viral respiratory infections.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective cohort analysis of pediatric patients diagnosed with viral infections via multiplex PCR respiratory panel.
  • Propensity score matching using gradient boosting machine (GBM) to balance antibiotic-treated and untreated groups.
  • Analysis of hospital length of stay, fever resolution, and common viral pathogens like human rhinovirus/enterovirus (HRV/EV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Main Results:

  • Antibiotic administration was associated with a significant increase in hospital length of stay (LOS) by an average of 2.19 days.
  • No significant difference in time to fever resolution was observed between antibiotic-free and antibiotic-received groups (p=0.391).
  • Human rhinovirus/enterovirus (HRV/EV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were the most prevalent viral pathogens identified.

Conclusions:

  • Antibiotics do not accelerate recovery from fever in pediatric viral respiratory infections.
  • Prescribing antibiotics to pediatric patients with confirmed viral infections is linked to longer hospital stays.
  • Clinicians should exercise caution and avoid unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions for non-critical pediatric viral respiratory infections.

Keywords:
anti-bacterial agentsantibioticsfeverhospitalizationpediatricspolymerase chain reactionrespiratory tract infections

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