Risk Factors for Death in Severe Acute Respiratory Infections Cases at the Houndé Sentinel Site, Burkina Faso

Citation: Dieudonné Tialla., et al. “Risk Factors for Death in Severe Acute Respiratory Infections Cases at the Houndé Sentinel Site, Burkina Faso”. EC Microbiology 17.7 (2021): 31-40. Background: In Burkina Faso, Acute Respiratory Infections are public health concern. It is one of the leading causes of death, but risk factors remain unknown. The objective of this study is to determine the risk factors for death in Severe Acute Respiratory Infections cases at the Houndé sentinel site from 2016 to 2019, in order to reduce the burden and the mortality of Acute Respiratory Infections in Burkina Faso. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study that covered the period from November 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019. We included, all cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections registered at the sentinel site of Houndé, which met the case definition of the RESPIRES project and benefited from a RT-PCR. For the statistical analysis, we performed a descriptive analysis of the cases, followed by a Cox regression which allowed us to calculate Hazard Ratios. Risk factors for death were sought at the α = 0.05 threshold. Results: We selected 503 cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections in the study. The median age of the cases was one year, with extremes of 6 days and 80 years. The sex ratio is 1.3. The median time of death was one day with extremes of 1 and 9 days. Four risk factors for death were identified: rural area [HR: 3.86; IC95% (1.23 12.06); p = 0.020]; Parainfluenza 1 virus [HR: 11.76; IC95% (2.41 57.30); p = 0.002], Legionella pneumophila/Legionella longbeach [HR: 17.08; IC95% (2.05 142.05); p = 0.009] and Staphylococcus aureus [HR: 3.54; IC95% (1.33 9.40); p = 0.011]. Antibiotic therapy during hospitalization [HR: 0.09; IC95% (0.01 0.70); p = 0.022] was also identified as protective factor. Conclusion: Our results confirm the role of socio-demographic and biological factors in the occurrence of deaths in people with Severe Acute Respiratory Infections. Prevention through vaccination and the fight against the misuse of antibiotics through selfmedication are effective ways to reduce mortality from Severe Acute Respiratory Infections.