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RSV-associated mortality uncommon from 2000 to 2011
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From 2000 to 2011, RSV-associated deaths were uncommon among children aged younger than 2 years, according to study findings in Pediatrics.
Carrie L. Byington, MD, vice chair for research for the department of pediatrics at the University of Utah, and colleagues queried two national pediatric databases for inpatient admissions and deaths associated with ICD-9-CM codes for RSV infection. Data for children aged younger than 2 years from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database (HCUP KID) for 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009 and the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) for 2000 to 2011 were used.
Carrie L. Byington
“We chose to focus on the age range younger than 2 years because the majority of hospitalizations and deaths occur in infants, and the AAP recommendations for the use of palivizumab prophylaxis currently do not extend to children aged older than 2 years,” Byington and colleagues wrote.
Data from the HCUP KID database identified 607,937 RSV-associated admissions and 550 deaths, indicating a rate of 9 deaths per 10,000 admissions.
PHIS data identified 264,721 RSV-associated admissions and 671 deaths from 2000 to 2011, a rate of 25.4 deaths per 10,000 admissions.
“The majority of RSV-associated mortality occurred between the months November and March (ie, the typical RSV season in the United States),” according to the researchers.
Overall, the majority of RSV-associated deaths occurred among children aged 12 months and younger and children with complex chronic conditions. The mean age of the patients at death was 6.2 months.
Cardiovascular conditions were the most common complex chronic condition among study participants. Approximately 40% of children who died had at least 2 complex chronic conditions.
“Accurate estimates of mortality in the 21st century can inform cost-effectiveness analyses for the use of prophylaxis for the prevention of RSV in high-risk groups and can also be used in the evaluation of experimental preventive and treatment strategies,” Byington and colleagues wrote.
Disclosure: Byington reports financial ties with BioFire. The other researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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