Prophylaxis protects infants with congenital heart disease from severe forms of RSV infection: an Italian observational retrospective study : Palivizumab prophylaxis in children with congenital heart disease.

Background: In children with congenital heart disease (CHD) respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection may have a severe course, with increased risk of morbidity and mortality, requiring hospital admission and intensive care. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of prophylaxis with palivizumab in preventing RSV-associated hospitalization in infants with CHD.

Methods: We carried out an observational, retrospective study in a paediatric cardiology division at a secondary-care centre in Italy, extracting from the database children with CHD who, from November 2004 to March 2022, matched the criteria for palivizumab prophylaxis, to evaluate the hospitalization rate in CHD patients with and without palivizumab prophylaxis and their RSV-related hospitalization characteristics compared with a group of children without CHD and no other underlying clinical conditions (control group, CG), hospitalized for RSV infection.

COVID19: potential cardiovascular issues in pediatric patients.

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV 2) has rapidly spread worldwide with increasing hospitalization and mortality rate. Ongoing studies and accumulated data are de- tailing the features and the effects of the new coronavirus disease 19 (COVID 19) in the adult population, and cardiovascular involvement is emerging as the most significant and life-threatening complication, with an in- creased risk of morbidity and mortality in patients with underlying cardiovascular disease. At present, though the limited data on the effects of COVID 19 in pediatric patients, children seem to count for a little proportion of SARS-COV 2 infection, and present with less severe disease and effects However infants and toddlers are at risk of developing critical course.