Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Human Parainfluenza Virus Infection in Children of Xianyang Children's Hospital in 2022

The incidence of HPIV infection in children is on the rise, particularly following the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, which presents a potential risk to the health of children.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the epidemiological and clinical features of human parainfluenza virus (HPIV) in children admitted to Xianyang Children's Hospital (Xianyang Caihong Hospital) from January 2022 to December 2022.

Methods: Out of the 5873 cases of hospitalised children, the ones which had HPIV as the only pathogen and were non-standard cases were excluded, and the rest were analysed for their clinical characteristics, based on the six nucleic acids kits used to detect HPIV in respiratory tract viruses. Results: Among 5873 cases of Nasopharyngeal swab specimens, there were 795 cases of HPIV antigen positive, of which 794 cases of HPIV3（13.52%, 3 cases of HPIV1（0.05%; There were 472 males (13.92%) and 325 females (13.09%) in them(χ2 =0.381, P=0.362).The infection rates in spring, summer, autumn and winter were 8.03%, 55.71%, 28.48% and 7.78%, respectively, and the difference of pairwise comparison were statistically significant (χ2=539.158, P=0).There were 318 cases (19.51%) in infant group and 164 cases (10.86%) in children group (χ2=45.118, P=0). With HPIV as the sole pathogen including 363 cases of bronchopneumonia, 237 cases of bronchitis, 8 cases of pertussis syndrome, 84 cases of bronchiolitis.

Conclusion: ⑴. During the period of January to December 2022, Xianyang Children's Hospital has seen a high prevalence of HPIV, a virus causing lower respiratory tract infection, especially HPIV3. ⑵.No statistical evidence showed a difference between men and women in terms of high morbidity during spring and summer, which was more common among infants and young children. ⑶. Among children infected with HPIV, the four most common respiratory illnesses are bronchopneumonia, bronchitis, pertussis syndrome, and bronchiolitis. After undergoing symptomatic treatment, most children showed marked improvement. It is imperative to gain a thorough understanding of HPIV infections in children, enabling timely prevention and symptomatic treatment, identifying critical and serious illnesses, and reducing morbidity and mortality.