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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical manifestations and 5-year natural course of recurrent bronchiolitis or reactive airways disease (RAD) in infants. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of infants with recurrent bronchiolitis from January 2007 to December 2007 at The Catholic University of Korea St. Mary's Hospital in Incheon, South Korea. Additionally, we telephoned their parents to confirm their present medical statuses. Results: Sixty-three subjects with recurrent bronchiolitis were identified. The mean age at admission was 8.1 months and the number of males was 44 (69.8%). Of the 63 infants with recurrent bronchiolitis, inhaled corticosteroids, bronchodilators, and antibiotics were given to 62 (98.4%), 53 (84.1%), and 40 (63.5%), respectively. Among the total 63 subjects, we were able to contact the parents of 45 children by telephone. None of these children had been hospitalized during the previous one year period due to respiratory infections or for other medical reasons. Of the 45 subjects we were able to contact, 38 (84.4%) had not experienced any further respiratory difficulties at all. Five (11.1%) had been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis while two (4.4%) were being managed for asthma. Conclusion: Most children who presented with recurrent episodes of bronchiolitis in infancy did not show any further respi- ratory difficulties after five years of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We applied the pediatric risk of mortality (PRISM) III score to study patients in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), where children with various kinds of diseases were hospitalized. We analyzed whether this scoring system was useful to predict patient mortality in the PICU. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients hospitalized in a 5-bed PICU at a tertiary general hospital. Children who were transferred to other hospitals and remained under pediatric intensive care were excluded from this study. Results We studied a total of 105 children, which included 63 boys (60%) and 42 girls (40%). The mean age was 4.2 years (range 0-17 years). The children were admitted to the PICU for various conditions, including respiratory disease (31 children), neurological disease (30 children), congenital anomaly or neonatal disease (11 children), hemato-oncological disease (10 children), accident or poisoning (7 children), cardiovascular disease (5 children), sepsis (2 children), and the other miscellaneous diseases (9 children). The mean period of PICU stay was 9 days (range 2-66 days). Out of the 105 patients, 94 survived and 11 died. Thus, the mortality rate was calculated as 10.5%. PRISM III scores of the patients were between 0 and 38, with a mean ± SD of 5.0 ± 6.7. In comparison with previous studies on PICU patients with similar PRISM scores, the patients included in our study exhibited a higher mortality. The area under the curve for the prediction of mortality by PRISM III was 0.107. Among the variables included in PRISM III, Glasgow coma scale, pupillary light reflex, and platelet counts were associated with patient mortality. Conclusions In a PICU with a wide spectrum of diseases, PRISM III was not a useful predictor of patient mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]