Background and aims Children with Down Syndrome (DS) are reported to have increased morbidity due to bronchiolitis. We aim to study if congenital heart defects will have an impact on children with DS admitted for bronchiolitis.

Methods We identified children with DS with diagnosis of bronchiolitis from 2004 to 2012 from electronic records. We define congenital heart defects (CHD) as all congenital heart defects except small patent ductus arteriosus or small atrial septal defect. Continuous and categorical data were summarised as median with interquartile ranges and proportions respectively. Continuous variables were compared with Mann Whitney rank-Sum test and categorical variables by Fisher exact test. Statistical significance was taken as p < 0.05 for all tests.

Results Twenty seven admissions were identified. The median age was 8 (5–18) months. Respiratory syncytial virus (37%) was the most common virus isolated.

Fourteen (52%) patients have CHD. There was no difference in proportion of children with DS and CHD requiring high dependency care (HD) compared to those without. (4/14 vs. 2/13, p = 0.648). There was no difference in proportion of those with DS and CHD requiring intensive care (ICU) and those without (1/14 vs. 1/13, p = 0.999). There was no difference in median LOS between those with CHD and those without. (6.5 vs. 7 days, p = 0.678). After excluding those CHD with corrective surgery done, there is still no significant difference between the two groups.

Conclusion We did not find any association between CHD and increase in morbidity among children with DS admitted for bronchiolitis.