The Clinical Impact of the Film Array (Biofire) Respiratory Panel Utilization on the Outcomes of Pediatric Patients with Acute Viral Respiratory Infections in Two Private Tertiary Hospitals in Cebu

Shajed Julasiri*, Jonathan Lim and Karen Joy Kimseng

Background: Acute Respiratory tract Infections (ARI) are the most prevalent illness in people of all ages, and they are a leading cause of hospitalization and death. Molecular testing methods have significantly expanded the ability to diagnose respiratory infections. Rapid viral testing aims to prompt the diagnosis of viral infections that could lead to faster hospital discharge, and lower healthcare resource use, and clinicians are guided on the judicious use of antibiotics, as well as greater isolation precautions. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical impact of the Film Array (Biofire) Respiratory Panel utilization on the outcomes of pediatric patients with acute viral respiratory infection.

Methodology: This is a cross-sectional analytic study, conducted in two private tertiary hospitals. The study population includes admitted patients aged 1-18 years old with an acute respiratory infection and then divided into two groups: exposure group (with Biofire taken) and non-exposure group (without Biofire taken). Retrospective chart review was done on the admitted patients and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: A total of 220 samples were included. The majority of patients in both groups were female, aged 1-5 years old, lived in an urban locality, and with no influenza vaccination. The most common virus detected was hRV/hEV(n = 29%), while the most common codetection virus was hRV/hEV with influenza B (n = 23.5%). For those who underwent the test, patients were frequently admitted in the year 2021 (n = 90%) and the month of July (n = 28.2%). Utilization of the respiratory panel was associated with significant changes in medical management including decreased antibiotic usage (p = 0.001) and shorter length of hospital stay (p = 0.029), compared to those patients who didn’t undergo the test.

Conclusion: The Film Array (Biofire) respiratory panel is useful in assisting clinical judgment regarding the usage of antibiotics as well as the length of hospitalization among children affected by acute respiratory infections.

Keywords:

Published on: Feb 5, 2025 Pages: 1-10

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/aprc.000091
CrossMark Publons Harvard Library HOLLIS Search IT Semantic Scholar Get Citation Base Search Scilit OAI-PMH ResearchGate Academic Microsoft GrowKudos Universite de Paris UW Libraries SJSU King Library SJSU King Library NUS Library McGill DET KGL BIBLiOTEK JCU Discovery Universidad De Lima WorldCat VU on WorldCat