Study Population and study setting
A prospective observational study was conducted in a single tertiary-level teaching hospital. We prospectively analyzed patients aged 1 month to 18 years admitted to the Department of Pediatrics between March 2020 to August 2020.
The enrolled patients were divided into 3 groups:
Group 1 of the patients under study or group of acutely ill children divided in turn into 3 sub-categories based on the type of disease in progress:
Group 2 of children with Bronchiolitis
Group 3 of Healthy Infants
All patients, belonging to group of acutely ill children and included in the study, underwent anamnestic evaluation and clinical evaluation. Furthermore, laboratory data, airway microbiological data and lung ultrasound data were collected for all. Further investigations were performed only when deemed necessary by the evaluating pediatricians such as chest X-rays and some laboratory tests. During the diagnostic process, the physician on duty made decisions about the patient’s diagnosis and treatment according to his/her own practice and without knowledge of the LUS findings, but aware of other clinical / laboratory / imaging data if performed.
Written informed consent was obtained from was obtained by all participants and / or their legal guardians (for children under 16). The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and Ethic Committee (prot. 36173/19 ID2729). There is no identifying information or pictures in the article.