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Decreases in diarrhea-associated hospitalizations after rotavirus vaccine sustained, but smaller
Yen C. Pediatrics. 2011;127: e9-e15.
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There is a continued decrease in pediatric hospitalizations linked to diarrhea and rotavirus after the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine, but the decreases were smaller in the 2008 to 2009 season compared with the year prior, according to research published in Pediatrics.
Catherine Yen, MD, MPH, and colleagues from the CDC, analyzed hospital discharge data from a national network of 62 hospitals. They included data from 2003 to 2009 because this time frame included three rotavirus seasons before vaccine introduction and two seasons after vaccine introduction.
The researchers concluded that compared with the median number of hospitalizations in children younger than age 5 years from 2003 to 2006, all-cause diarrhea-related hospitalizations fell by 50% in 2007 to 2008 and by 29% in 2008 to 2009. Diarrhea-related hospitalizations fell to 7,760 in 2007 and 2008 compared with 11,039 in 2008 and 2009.
“As expected, greater reductions with similar trends occurred with the more-specific outcome of rotavirus-coded hospitalizations, which decreased by 83%, in 2007 and 2008 compared with 66% in 2008-2009,” the researchers said.
They said decreases were smaller in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, particularly in the Midwest and South, but the number of hospitalizations remained less than the prevaccine baseline values, even in these parts of the country.
The researchers noted some study limitations. They said population-based rates were not calculated, that they did not restrict their analysis to rotavirus-coded hospitalizations because the code is generally underused, and also, that data were obtained from large pediatric hospitals with voluntary reporting, which limited the generalizability of their findings.
“Given the variability in trends over the two postvaccine seasons according to age group and region, continued surveillance is required to ascertain fully the impact of rotavirus vaccine on the burden of diarrheal disease,” the researchers concluded.
Disclosure: The were no relevant financial disclosures reported.
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