Correlation Between Clinical Characteristics and Radionuclide Salivagram Findings in Infants With Congenital Laryngeal Developmental Anomalies

Objective To evaluate the correlation between clinical characteristics and radionuclide salivagram findings in infants with congenital laryngeal developmental anomalies, and determine the clinical characteristics that could predict the positive results of radionuclide salivagram. Methods 151 hospitalized infants with congenital laryngeal developmental anomalies were retrospectively included to assess the correlation between positive radionuclide salivagram results and clinical features, and a multivariate logistic regression model was constructed to identify significant correlates that jointly predict positive radionuclide salivagram results. Results Positive radionuclide salivagram results were significantly associated with fever, neurological diseases, congenital syndromes, and positive pathogenetic test results in univariate analysis. Positive radionuclide salivagram were significantly associated with fever (odds ratio [OR] = 3.494; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.414–8.630; P = 0.007), neurological diseases (OR = 3.296; 95% CI 1.335–8.138; P = 0.010), and congenital syndromes (OR = 5.069, 95% CI 1.696–15.154; P = 0.004) in a multivariable logistic regression analysis. Conclusion Fever, concurrent neurological diseases, and concurrent congenital syndromes were discovered as clinical factors that could predict positive radionuclide salivagram results and salivary aspiration should be highly suspected in infants with these clinical factors of congenital laryngeal developmental anomalies.