Search

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of acute respiratory infections in young children. Limited data are available on RSV disease burden in primary care and emergency departments (EDs). This review synthesizes the evidence on population-based incidence rates of RSV infections in young children (< 5 years) in primary care and EDs. A systematic literature review was performed in PubMed and Embase. Studies reporting yearly population-based RSV incidence rates in primary care and EDs were included. A total of 4244 records were screened and 32 studies were included, conducted between 1993 and 2019. Studies were mainly performed in high-income countries (n = 27), with 15 studies in North America and 10 studies in Europe. There was significant variability in study methodology and setting among studies, resulting in considerable variability in reported incidence rates. Incidence rates were higher in primary care-ranging from 0.8 to 330 (median = 109) per 1000 population-compared to EDs (7.5-144.0, median = 48). The highest incidence rates were reported in infants. Additionally, incidence rates were higher in high-income countries and in studies using laboratory-confirmed RSV cases compared to studies using bronchiolitis ICD-codes (non-laboratory confirmed). Our study found that a substantial number of children under 5 years of age attend primary care settings and EDs, every year for RSV infections. Due to the considerable heterogeneity in study methodology, it was impossible to draw definitive conclusions regarding factors explaining differences in reported incidence rates. Additionally, more studies in low- and middle-income countries are recommended., (© 2024 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes respiratory tract disease in seasonal waves, primarily in infants and young children. This study aims to quantify the number of RSV-related hospitalizations in children ≤2 years of age and to determine corresponding resource use and costs in Germany., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed population-wide hospital data from the Institute for the Hospital Remuneration System (InEK) from 2019 to 2022. RSV cases were identified using the RSV-specific 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) codes J12.1, J20.5, and J21.0. The RSV-associated proportion of all hospitalizations caused by severe acute respiratory infections (SARIs), clinical manifestations, length of stay (LOS), intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, ventilation rates, and hospitalization costs were retrieved., Results: We identified 98,220 hospitalizations (26,052, 15,407, 31,362, and 25,399 in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively) with a principal RSV diagnosis in children aged ≤2 years in Germany. The majority of RSV hospitalizations (73,178) occurred in infants (<1 year), with annual incidence rates ranging from 14.9 to 28.6 per 1000 population. Fifty-eight percent of all SARI hospitalizations in this age group were attributable to RSV. In children aged ≤2 years, mean LOS was 4.5 days, 6.1% of cases were admitted to ICU, and 5.3% of cases were ventilated. Mean hospitalization costs per case ranged from €3001 to €3961 over the study period., Conclusions: RSV causes substantial disease burden and is a leading cause of SARI-related hospital admissions of children ≤2 years of age in Germany. Our results confirm the need to explore and evaluate strategies to prevent RSV in infants and young children., (© 2023 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) in young children and is of considerable burden on healthcare systems. Our study aimed to evaluate ALRI hospitalizations related to RSV in children in Portugal., Methods: We reviewed hospitalizations potentially related to RSV in children aged <5 years from 2015 to 2018, using anonymized administrative data covering all public hospital discharges in mainland Portugal. Three case definitions were considered: (a) RSV-specific, (b) (a) plus unspecified acute bronchiolitis (RSV-specific & Bronchiolitis), and (c) (b) plus unspecified ALRI (RSV-specific & ALRI)., Results: A total of 9697 RSV-specific hospitalizations were identified from 2015 to 2018-increasing to 26 062 for RSV-specific & ALRI hospitalizations-of which 74.7% were during seasons 2015/2016-2017/2018 (November-March). Mean hospitalization rates per season were, for RSV-specific, RSV-specific & Bronchiolitis, and RSV-specific & ALRI, respectively, 5.6, 9.4, and 11.8 per 1000 children aged <5 years and 13.4, 22.5, and 25.9 in children aged <2 years. Most RSV-specific hospitalizations occurred in healthy children (94.9%) and in children aged <2 years (96.3%). Annual direct costs of €2.4 million were estimated for RSV-specific hospitalizations-rising to €5.1 million for RSV-specific & ALRI-mostly driven by healthy children (87.6%)., Conclusion: RSV is accountable for a substantial number of hospitalizations in children, especially during their first year of life. Hospitalizations are mainly driven by healthy children. The variability of the potential RSV burden across case definitions highlights the need for a universal RSV surveillance system to guide prevention strategies., (© 2022 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections are one of the leading causes of lower respiratory tract infections and have a major burden on society. For prevention and control to be deployed effectively, an improved understanding of the seasonality of RSV is necessary., Objectives: The main objective of this study was to contribute to a better understanding of RSV seasonality by examining the GERi multi-country surveillance dataset., Methods: RSV seasons were included in the analysis if they contained ≥100 cases. Seasonality was determined using the "average annual percentage" method. Analyses were performed at a subnational level for the United States and Brazil., Results: We included 601 425 RSV cases from 12 countries. Most temperate countries experienced RSV epidemics in the winter, with a median duration of 10-21 weeks. Not all epidemics fit this pattern in a consistent manner, with some occurring later or in an irregular manner. More variation in timing was observed in (sub)tropical countries, and we found substantial differences in seasonality at a subnational level. No association was found between the timing of the epidemic and the dominant RSV subtype., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that geographical location or climatic characteristics cannot be used as a definitive predictor for the timing of RSV epidemics and highlight the need for (sub)national data collection and analysis., (© 2021 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Humans vary substantially in their ability to learn new motor skills. Here, we examined inter-individual differences in learning to play the piano, with the goal of identifying relations to structural properties of white matter fiber tracts relevant to audio-motor learning. Non-musicians (n = 18) learned to perform three short melodies on a piano keyboard in a pure audio-motor training condition (vision of their own fingers was occluded). Initial learning times ranged from 17 to 120 min (mean ± SD: 62 ± 29 min). Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was used to derive the fractional anisotropy (FA), an index of white matter microstructural arrangement. A correlation analysis revealed that higher FA values were associated with faster learning of piano melodies. These effects were observed in the bilateral corticospinal tracts, bundles of axons relevant for the execution of voluntary movements, and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus, a tract important for audio-motor transformations. These results suggest that the speed with which novel complex audio-motor skills can be acquired may be determined by variability in structural properties of white matter fiber tracts connecting brain areas functionally relevant for audio-motor learning., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Recent neurophysiological studies have associated focal-task specific dystonia (FTSD) with impaired inhibitory function. However, it remains unknown whether FTSD also affects the inhibition (INH) of long-term overlearned motor programs. Consequently, we investigated in a Go/NoGo paradigm the neural correlates associated with the activation (ACT) and inhibition of long-term overlearned motor memory traces in pianists with musician's dystonia (MD), a form of FTSD, during a relevant motor task under constraint timing conditions with multichannel EEG. In NoGo trials, the movement related cortical potentials showed a positive shift after the NoGo signal related to inhibition and was significantly smaller over sensorimotor areas in musicians with MD. Further, we observed an increase at 850-900 ms in the power of beta oscillations which was significantly weaker for the patient group. The role of the inter-electrode phase coupling in the sensorimotor integration of inhibitory processes turned out to be the most relevant physiological marker: the global phase synchronization during INH exhibited an increase between 230 and 330 ms and 7-8 Hz, increase which was significantly smaller for pianists with MD. This effect was due to a weaker phase synchronization between the supplementary motor cortex and left premotor and sensorimotor electrodes in patients. Thus, our findings support the hypothesis of a deficient phase coupling between the neuronal assemblies required to inhibit motor memory traces in patients with MD. EMG recorded from the right flexor pollicis longus muscle confirmed that patients with MD had a disrupted INH in NoGo trials., ((c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)