Abstract
Although neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) causes significant morbidity, utilization of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) HSV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test remains variable. Our objective was to examine the association of CSF HSV PCR testing with length of stay (LOS) in a 20-center retrospective cohort of hospitalized infants aged ≥60 days undergoing evaluation for meningitis after adjustment for patient-level factors and clustering by center. Of 20,496 eligible infants, 7,399 (36.1%) had a CSF HSV PCR test performed, and 46 (0.6% of those tested) had a positive test. Infants who had a CSF HSV PCR test performed had a 23% longer hospital LOS (incident rate ratio 1.23; 95% CI: 1.14-1.33). Targeted CSF HSV PCR testing may mitigate the impact on LOS for low-risk infants. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2019;14:492-495. Published online first May 10, 2019.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 492-495 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journal of hospital medicine |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This project was supported by the Section of Emergency Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Baylor College of Medicine and by the grant number K08HS026006 (Aronson) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Stephen Freedman is supported by the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation Professorship in Child Health and Wellness.
Funding Information:
Funding: This project was supported by the Section of Emergency Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Baylor College of Medicine and by the grant number K08HS026006 (Aronson) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Stephen Freedman is supported by the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation Professorship in Child Health and Wellness.
Funding Information:
Disclosures: Dr. Aronson reports grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality during the conduct of the study. Dr. Shah reports grants from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and grants from the National Heart Lung Blood Institute, outside the submitted work. Dr. Shah is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Hospital Medicine. All other authors have no conflicts of interest or financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Society of Hospital Medicine.