Respiratory Syncytial Virus–Associated Hospital Admissions and Bed Days in Children <5 Years of Age in 7 European Countries

Wang X, Li Y, Vazquez Fernandez L, Teirlinck AC, Lehtonen T, van Wijhe M, Stona L, Bangert M, Reeves RM, Bøås H, van Boven M, Heikkinen T, Klint Johannesen C, Baraldi E, Donà D, Tong S, Campbell H

Abstract

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in young children. High-quality country-specific estimates of bed days and length of stay (LOS) show the population burden of RSV-RTI on secondary care services and the burden among patients, and can be used to inform RSV immunization implementation decisions.

Methods: We estimated the hospital burden of RSV-associated RTI (RSV-RTI) in children under 5 years in 7 European countries (Finland, Denmark, Norway, Scotland, England, the Netherlands, and Italy) using routinely collected hospital databases during 2001-2018. We described RSV-RTI admission rates during the first year of life by birth month and assessed their correlation with RSV seasonality in 5 of the countries (except for England and Italy). We estimated average annual numbers and rates of bed days for RSV-RTI and other-pathogen RTI, as well as the hospital LOS.

Results: We found that infants born 2 months before the peak month of RSV epidemics more frequently had the highest RSV-RTI hospital admission rate. RSV-RTI hospital episodes accounted for 9.9-21.2 bed days per 1000 children aged <5 years annually, with the median (interquartile range) LOS ranging from 2 days (0.5-4 days) to 4 days (2-6 days) between countries. Between 70% and 89% of these bed days were in infants aged <1 year, representing 40.3 (95% confidence interval [CI], 40.1-40.4) to 91.2 (95% CI, 90.6-91.8) bed days per 1000 infants annually. The number of bed days for RSV-RTI was higher than that for RTIs associated with other pathogens in infants aged <1 year, especially in those <6 months.

Conclusions: RSV disease prevention therapies (monoclonal antibodies and maternal vaccines) for infants could help prevent a substantial number of bed days due to RSV-RTI. “High-risk” birth months should be considered when developing RSV immunization schedules. Variation in LOS between countries might reflect differences in hospital care practices.

Keywords: Europe; bed days; birth month; hospital admission; respiratory syncytial virus.

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