Although hypoxemia and length of hospital stay have been the focus of RSV-associated morbidity, apnea is a relatively common associated symptom that surprisingly has not been studied carefully, even though apnea has the potential to cause death. Authors of this systematic review point out that although apnea alone or risk of apnea may lead to some RSV hospitalizations because of concern for complications or even death, definition of apnea has not been standardized, apnea has not been studied prospectively, nor has the risk of death been established or prevention of occurrence by administration of monoclonal antibody evaluated. Ralston and Hill help us realize that, even after decades of investigation (and an annual billion dollars spent in ameliorating symptoms), we know less about pathophysiology of symptoms due to RSV and co-factors potentially responsible for severe disease and death than we would think.
FULL TEXT