Background: Adenovirus infections are exceedingly common in childhood, most of these are asymptomatic, mild, or self-limited. While considerable morbidity and mortality due to adenovirus is well described in immunocompromised children, there is no data regarding adenovirus infection in children with Down syndrome (DS).
Objective: To evaluate clinical characteristics and disease severity among hospitalized children with DS and adenovirus infection.
Methods: Data on 585 children who were hospitalized with adenovirus infection from January 2005 to August 2014 were retrospectively collected. Children with DS were compared to a subgroup of randomly selected children without DS (n=123).
Results: Among the 585 hospitalized children with adenoviral infection, 11 (1.9%) had DS. Children with DS were more likely to have a severe underlying disease requiring medical therapy (45.5% vs. 10.6%, p=0.001), to have longer hospital stay (17±15.9 days vs. 4.46±3.16 days, p=0.025), higher incidence of complications (18.2% vs. 2.4%, p=0.008) and higher rate of admissions to the intensive care unit (36.4% vs. 2.4%, p<0.001). Mortality was not observed in either group.
Conclusions: Adenovirus infection in children with DS is characterized by a severe and prolonged course of disease. Respiratory complications and hospitalization in the intensive care unit are more common in this population. We therefore suggest that a higher index of suspicion should be utilized when assessing and caring for these high risk children.
