Disease severity in children with bronchiolitis is not associated with infection by multiple viruses. We conclude that other factors, such as age, contribute to disease severity to a larger extent.

eHealth is an appealing medium to improve healthcare and its value (in addition to standard care) has been assessed in previous studies. We aimed to assess whether an eHealth intervention could improve asthma control while reducing 50% of routine outpatient visits.In a multicentre, randomised controlled trial with a 16-month follow-up, asthmatic children (6-16 years) treated in eight Dutch hospitals were randomised to usual care (4-monthly outpatient visits) and online care using a virtual asthma clinic (VAC) (8-monthly outpatient visits with monthly web-based monitoring). Outcome measures were the number of symptom-free days in the last 4 weeks of the study, asthma control, forced expiratory volume in 1 s, exhaled nitric oxide fraction, asthma exacerbations, unscheduled outpatient visits, hospital admissions, daily dose of inhaled corticosteroids and courses of systemic corticosteroids.We included 210 children. After follow-up, symptom-free days differed statistically between the usual care and VAC groups (difference of 1.23 days, 95% CI 0.42-2.04; p=0.003) in favour of the VAC. In terms of asthma control, the Childhood Asthma Control Test improved more in the VAC group (difference of 1.17 points, 95% CI 0.09-2.25; p=0.03). No differences were found for other outcome measures.Routine outpatient visits can partly be replaced by monitoring asthmatic children eHealth.

Measurement of the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a useful test to diagnose and/or monitor eosinophilic airway inflammation. The off-line tidal breathing method is used for measurements in young children, but reference values for preschool children are scarce. The objective of this study was to establish reference values for FeNO in healthy children 1-5 years old. We included 51 healthy children (23 males), mean age 32.5 months, from the general population and measured FeNO, using an off-line tidal breathing method with a chemiluminescence analyzer. The method proved feasible in 100% of the children. Geometric mean FeNO was 7.1 parts per billion (ppb), 95% confidence interval 2.8-11.5 ppb, with the 95th percentile 22.6 ppb. No significant difference was found between boys and girls, and no correlations were observed between FeNO and age, height, or weight. This study demonstrates that the off-line tidal breathing method is feasible to measure FeNO in preschool children and provides reference values of FeNO in healthy children 1-5 years of age.

BackgroundDespite their potential benefits, many electronic health (eHealth) innovations evaluated in major studies fail to integrate into organizational routines, and the implementation of these innovations remains problematic.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to describe health care professionals’ self-identified perceived barriers and facilitators for the implementation of a Web-based portal to monitor asthmatic children as a substitution for routine outpatient care. Also, we assessed patients’ (or their parents) satisfaction with this eHealth innovation.MethodsBetween April and November 2015, we recruited 76 health care professionals (from 14 hospitals). During a period of 6 months, participants received 3 questionnaires to identify factors that facilitated or impeded the use of this eHealth innovation. Questionnaires for patients (or parents) were completed after the 6-month virtual asthma clinic (VAC) implementation period.ResultsMajor perceived barriers included concerns about the lack of structural financial reimbursement for Web-based monitoring, lack of integration of this eHealth innovation with electronic medical records, the burden of Web-based portal use on clinician workload, and altered patient-professional relationship (due to fewer face-to-face contacts). Major perceived facilitators included enthusiastic and active initiators, a positive attitude of professionals toward eHealth, the possibility to tailor care to individual patients (“personalized eHealth”), easily deliverable care according to current guidelines using the VAC, and long-term profit and efficiency.ConclusionsThe implementation of Web-based disease monitoring and management in children is complex and dynamic and is influenced by multiple factors at the levels of the innovation itself, individual professionals, patients, social context, organizational context, and economic and political context. Understanding and defining the barriers and facilitators that influence the context is crucial for the successful implementation and sustainability of eHealth innovations.

To the Editor: eHealth interventions have been proposed as an appealing method to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs [1][2][3]. However, the development of an eHealth intervention is associated with high costs and this investment needs to be balanced by increased clinical effectiveness and related cost savings. Unfortunately, solid evidence for the effectiveness of eHealth with regard to health improvement is still limited [2-5], as is evidence regarding cost-effectiveness. This causes uncertainty about the effectiveness of eHealth and constitutes a barrier towards successful implementation in daily practice [6,7]. Thus, it is necessary to assess both effectiveness and cost-effectiveness to convince colleagues and policymakers of its added value.We assessed the cost-effectiveness of online asthma care for children alongside a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of this eHealth intervention on health improvement [8]. In this RCT, 210 asthmatic children were randomly allocated into two groups of asthma management. In the usual care (UC) group, care consisted of routine 4-monthly outpatient visits where asthma control was assessed with an asthma control test (ACT)/children's asthma control test (C-ACT) [9]. Alternatively, in the virtual asthma clinic (VAC) group, outpatient visits were reduced by 50% and asthma control was monitored online with monthly web-based ACT/C-ACT tests. In the VAC group, children had more symptom-free days per month and their ACT/C-ACT scores were more improved. As such, this RCT proved that routine outpatient visits can partly be replaced by online asthma management using the VAC.We carried out an a priori defined cost-effectiveness analysis with the hypothesis that online management via the VAC is cost-effective. Standard cost questionnaires were completed by the parents every 4 months to assess costs from both a healthcare and a societal perspective. Healthcare (or direct) costs included all costs related to medical conditions, prescribed medication and intervention costs (including development of the VAC and estimated hosting and licence costs). Societal (or indirect) costs consisted of the loss of productivity, travel costs for any medical condition and parking expenses. The costs were based on the Dutch guideline for cost analyses [10] although if prices were not available other sources were used. Prices were converted to the 2014 level using the Dutch consumer price index [11].Mean incremental costs were weighted against the mean incremental effects in terms of asthma-related quality of life (QoL) and asthma control. Uncertainty boundaries of 95% for the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were determined nonparametrically using bootstrap analyses. In this bootstrap simulation, 1000 random samples of cost-effect pairs were selected with replacement. Results from the simulation were presented graphically in a scatter plot in which each dot signifies the ICER of one iteration of the bootstrap stimulation. Two validated questionnaires...