There were 678 patients with bronchiolitis
over the study period, providing
a population estimate of ∼250
000 patient visits per year. The characteristics
of the sample are shown
in Table 1. There was a male predominance
(59.0%), and most patients
were ,1 year of age (78.6%). Consideration
of the total sample, only those
with a primary diagnosis of bronchiolitis
or limited samples excluding
diagnoses associated with the
therapeutic interventions (excluding
asthma for bronchodilators and steroids,
excluding bacterial infections
for antibiotics) did not alter the analysis.
The use of medications for
patients with bronchiolitis did not
change significantly over the study
period and did not decrease after
publication of the evidence-based