Abstract
In the post-restrictions COVID-19 period, the incidence of bronchiolitis in infants has increased considerably. Several scores determine the degree of severity of the bronchiolitis episode, but few are clinician-friendly. The main aim of this research was to find the easy-to-use score that most accurately estimated the severity of patients' infections according to their clinical situations and most accurately predicted the need for hospital admission. An observational cross-sectional study was performed in a reference pediatric hospital during the post-restrictions period of the COVID-19 pandemic (2021 and 2022). A comparison was made between the severity estimate provided by five international acute bronchiolitis scales and the clinical severity of the acute bronchiolitis episode. Three hundred and seventy-seven patients participated in the investigation, with a mean age of 5.68 months; 68.7% of the participants had a mild episode of bronchiolitis, 24.5% had a moderate episode, and 6.9% had a severe episode. The severity estimated by the Tal scale modified by McCallum showed a statistically significant correlation with the clinical severity established by clinical criteria (0.836; p < 0.001). It showed a high correlation with other international scores, such as the Wang score (0.820; p < 0.05) and the Wood-Downes-Ferrés score (0.936; p < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, the constituent variables of the modified Tal score appeared in the final model that predicts the need for hospital admission. In the context of increased incidence after COVID-19, the Tal score modified by McCallum is an easy-to-use measuring instrument that presents an excellent concordance with the clinical severity estimated at first care contact. It also offers a more significant prediction of the need for hospital admission.