The changing epidemiology of the bronchiolitis epidemic in Tallaght Hospital.

ABSTRACT

Bronchiolitis affects one third of babies in their first year of life. We investigated all bronchiolitis admissions to Tallaght Hospital in the last five years, with the hope of providing an insight into the epidemic in an Irish population. We analysed these 1,202 admissions on the basis of time of year (busiest being December at 24.20%), length of stay (mean 2.92 days), gender (62% male) and age (mean 30.29 weeks). There was a 102% increase in the average incidence of bronchiolitis in the first six months of 2011 and 2012 (186) compared to the previous four years (92.25). P value was statistically significant at 0.0469. Our findings were backed up by comparable data from OLCH, Crumlin (149.5 for 2011-2012 vs 36.25 for 2007-2010). There has been in a significant shift in the timing and incidence of bronchiolitis in Tallaght Hospital in the last two years. We explored the possible reasons for this, with special attention to RSV incidence, climate causes and vaccine programs.