Characterisation of frequency of norovirus infection among hospitalised patients of Children's clinical university hospital in 2021

Objective. To characterize the frequency of norovirus
infection depending on where infection was acquired, age, sex, department
profile, presence of other pathogens and socio-demographic factors among
hospitalized patients of “Children’s Clinical University Hospital” in
2021.Materials and Methods. Data was taken from the Children’s Clinical
University Hospital internal information system Andromeda and the
laboratory information system DIALAB about hospitalized patients in 2021
with a diagnosis of acute gastroenteropathy caused by norovirus (A08.1).
A total number of included cases in the data analysis were 266 children
aged 17 years and younger. For statistical data analysis descriptive
statistical methods and single-factor, multi-factor binary logistic regression
was used. Results. The incidence of healthcare-associated norovirus
infection (NoV-HAI) was 4.14 cases per 1000 hospitalized children per
year. There were no statistically significant differences between sociodemographic factors, the presence of other pathogens and place where
infection was acquired. The chances of becoming infected with NoV in the
hospital`s therapeutic profile departments were 3.99 (CI 2.07-7.69) times
higher than in the departments of infectious diseases. Children with
chronic illnesses and norovirus (NoV) infection were only in the NoV-HAI
group (n = 10). In the NoV group acquired in the society, children were
5.24 times more likely (CI 2.71-10.13) to suffer from dehydration than in
the NoV-HAI group. Conclusions. The chances of hospitalized children to
obtain NoV-HAI are related to compliance with infection control measures
in departments of different profiles, not to the child’s sociodemographic factors.