Background— There is a lack of clear diagnostic and management guidelines for acute myocarditis in the pediatric population. We used a multi-institutional database to characterize demographics, practice variability, and outcomes in this population. Methods and Results— Patients with acute myocarditis (n=514) were identified from April 2006 to March 2011 using the Pediatric Health Information System database, and regional variations in management and outcomes were analyzed. Ninety-seven patients (18.9%) received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, 22 (4.3%) received ventricular assist device, 21 (4.1%) received heart transplantation, and 37 (7.2%) died. Of the 104 patients who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ventricular assist device, 17 (16.3%) had heart transplantation, 25 (24%) died, and 62 (59.6%) showed recovery of myocardial function. There was a decrease in the use of endomyocardial biopsy ( P =0.03) and an increase in the use of magnetic resonance imaging ( P <0.01) over the study period. Although the use of medications and procedures varied between different regions, the occurrence of death or heart transplantation showed no significant regional associations. The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (odds ratio, 5.8; 95% confidence interval, 2.9–11.4; P <0.01), ventricular assist device (odds ratio, 8.2; 95% confidence interval, 2.7–24.9; P <0.01), and vasoactive medications (odds ratio, 5.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.2–26.1; P =0.03) was independently associated with death/transplantation. Conclusions— There is significant temporal and regional variation in the diagnostic modalities and management used for pediatric myocarditis, which continues to have high morbidity and mortality. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, ventricular assist device, and vasoactive medications are independently associated with increased mortality/transplantation.

SummaryBackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is an important cause of pneumonia mortality in young children. However, clinical data for fatal RSV infection are scarce. We aimed to identify clinical and socioeconomic characteristics of children aged younger than 5 years with RSV-related mortality using individual patient data.MethodsIn this retrospective case series, we developed an online questionnaire to obtain individual patient data for clinical and socioeconomic characteristics of children aged younger than 5 years who died with community-acquired RSV infection between Jan 1, 1995, and Oct 31, 2015, through leading research groups for child pneumonia identified through a comprehensive literature search and existing research networks. For the literature search, we searched PubMed for articles published up to Feb 3, 2015, using the key terms “RSV”, “respiratory syncytial virus”, or “respiratory syncytial viral” combined with “mortality”, “fatality”, “death”, “died”, “deaths”, or “CFR” for articles published in English. We invited researchers and clinicians identified to participate between Nov 1, 2014, and Oct 31, 2015. We calculated descriptive statistics for all variables.FindingsWe studied 358 children with RSV-related in-hospital death from 23 countries across the world, with data contributed from 31 research groups. 117 (33%) children were from low-income or lower middle-income countries, 77 (22%) were from upper middle-income countries, and 164 (46%) were from high-income countries. 190 (53%) were male. Data for comorbidities were missing for some children in low-income and middle-income countries. Available data showed that comorbidities were present in at least 33 (28%) children from low-income or lower middle-income countries, 36 (47%) from upper middle-income countries, and 114 (70%) from high-income countries. Median age for RSV-related deaths was 5·0 months (IQR 2·3–11·0) in low-income or lower middle-income countries, 4·0 years (2·0–10·0) in upper middle-income countries, and 7·0 years (3·6–16·8) in high-income countries.InterpretationThis study is the first large case series of children who died with community-acquired RSV infection. A substantial proportion of children with RSV-related death had comorbidities. Our results show that perinatal immunisation strategies for children aged younger than 6 months could have a substantial impact on RSV-related child mortality in low-income and middle-income countries.FundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Analysis of our results suggests that a longer duration of ventilation prior to tracheostomy is associated with increased ICU morbidities and length of stay. Early tracheostomy may have significant benefits without adversely affecting mortality.