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In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, state and local governments implemented mitigation strategies, including lockdowns, thereby averting the typical fall/winter 2020 bronchiolitis season and reducing the incidence of respiratory viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Florida implemented a strict lockdown from April 1, 2020, to April 30, 2020. The removal of lockdown precautions on September 25, 2020, was followed by an atypical out-of-season surge of bronchiolitis in April 2021. Anecdotally, this surge appeared to be associated with both increased poly-viral coinfections and disease severity. ObjectiveTo determine if the bronchiolitis out-of-season surge differed from historical seasonal case patterns. MethodsA single-center retrospective cohort study of admissions to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes of bronchiolitis, from December 9, 2019, to February 29, 2020 (12 weeks, pre-lockdown group or PreLD), was compared to March 29, 2021, to June 19, 2021 (12 weeks, post-lockdown group or PostLD). Variables used for comparison were gender, ethnicity, age, viral coinfections, viruses detected, PICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, mortality, maximum respiratory support needed, mechanical ventilation days, extracorporeal life support (ECLS) days, and severity of disease measured by Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 (PELOD-2) and Pediatric Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (pSOFA). Categorical data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test, and a t-test was used for continuous variables. A two-sided p < 0.05 was considered significant. ResultsA total of 135 subjects were analyzed from the two cohorts. More patients were admitted during the PostLD phase (87 vs. 48). The PostLD group had a higher age at admission (11.2 ± 12.3 vs. 6.6 ± 7.5, p = 0.0075), but there were no differences in gender or race/ethnicity. The PostLD group also exhibited a higher proportion of RSV infections (73 vs. 16, p < 0.0001) and poly-viral infections (p < 0.0001). Higher coronavirus OC43 (9 vs. 0, p = 0.0263) and parainfluenza types 1-4 (human parainfluenza virus (HPIV)) (19 vs. 1, p = 0.0017) detections, yet fewer human metapneumovirus (HMPV) detections (0 vs. 4, p = 0.0147), were observed PostLD. No differences were found in hospital length of stay, PICU length of stay, mortality, mechanical ventilation days, ECLS days, or severity of illness scores based on PELOD-2 or pSOFA scores. ConclusionIn the bronchiolitis out-of-season surge, there were an increased number of admissions to the PICU. Those patients were older, and more likely to have RSV, as well as a coinfection with coronavirus OC43 or HPIV, yet less likely to have HMPV. No difference in length of stay or disease severity was demonstrated.

OBJECTIVES: Primary objective is to determine if transfusion of short storage RBCs compared with standard issue RBCs reduced risk of delirium/coma in critically ill children. Secondary objective is to assess if RBC transfusion was independently associated with delirium/coma. DESIGN:This study was performed in two stages. First, we compared patients receiving either short storage or standard RBCs in a multi-institutional prospective randomized controlled trial. Then, we compared all transfused patients in the randomized controlled trial with a single-center cohort of nontransfused patients matched for confounders of delirium/coma. SETTING: Twenty academic PICUs who participated in the Age of Transfused Blood in Critically Ill Children trial. PATIENTS:Children 3 days to 16 years old who were transfused RBCs within the first 7 days of admission. INTERVENTIONS:Subjects were randomized to either short storage RBC study arm (defined as RBCs stored for up to seven days) or standard issue RBC study arm. In addition, subjects were screened for delirium prior to transfusion and every 12 hours after transfusion for up to 3 days. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:Primary outcome measure was development of delirium/coma within 3 days of initial transfusion. Additional outcome measures were dose-response relationship between volume of RBCs transfused and delirium/coma, and comparison of delirium/coma rates between transfused patients and individually matched nontransfused patients. We included 146 subjects in the stage I analysis; 69 were randomized to short storage RBCs and 77 to standard issue. There was no significant difference in delirium/coma development between study arms (79.5% vs 70.1%; p = 0.184). In the stage II analysis, adjusted odds for delirium in the transfused cohort was more than eight-fold higher than in the nontransfused matched cohort, even after controlling for hemoglobin (adjusted odds ratio, 8.9; CI, 2.8-28.4; p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: RBC transfusions (and not anemia) are independently associated with increased odds of subsequent delirium/coma. However, storage age of RBCs does not affect delirium risk.KEY WORDS: age of blood; Cornell assessment of pediatric delirium; delirium; pediatric critical care; red blood cell transfusions D elirium occurs frequently in the PICU (1). It is a behavioral syndrome defined as an acute and fluctuating change in awareness and cognition, which occurs as a direct result of the underlying medical condition or as a side effect of treatment (2). Pediatric delirium is strongly associated with substantial morbidity(3-7).