Background: Acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) remains a major cause of childhood hospitalization and mortality in young children and the causal attribution of respiratory viruses in the aetiology of ALRI is unclear. We aimed to quantify the absolute effects of these viral exposures.
Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review (across 7 databases) of case-control studies published from 1990 to 2014 which investigated the viral profile of 18592 children under 5 years with and without ALRI. We then computed a pooled odds ratio and virus-specific attributable fraction among the exposed of 8 common viruses - respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza (IFV), parainfluenza (PIV), human metapneumovirus (MPV), adenovirus (AdV), rhinovirus (RV), bocavirus (BoV), and coronavirus (CoV).
Findings: From the 23 studies included, there was strong evidence for causal attribution of RSV (OR 9.79; AFE 90%), IFV (OR 5.10; AFE 80%), PIV (OR 3.37; AFE 70%) and MPV (OR 3.76; AFE 73%), and less strong evidence for RV (OR 1.43; AFE 30%) in young children presenting with ALRI compared to those without respiratory symptoms (asymptomatic) or healthy children. However, there was no significant difference in the detection of AdV, BoV, or CoV in cases and controls.
Conclusions: This review supports RSV, IFV, PIV, MPV and RV as important causes of ALRI in young children, and provides quantitative estimates of the absolute proportion of virus-associated ALRI cases to which a viral cause can be attributed.