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Rotavirus vaccine reduces hospitalization rates of acute gastroenteritis
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Results from a recent study show that hospitalization rates of pediatric patients aged younger than 5 years with acute gastroenteritis declined significantly after implementation of the rotavirus vaccine.
“Following implementation of rotavirus vaccination in 2006, all-cause acute gastroenteritis hospitalization rates among U.S. children younger than 5 years declined by 31% to 55% in each of the postvaccine years from 2008 through 2012,” Eyal Leshem, MD, medical epidemiologist for the CDC, and colleagues wrote in JAMA. “Furthermore, greater declines of 63% to 94% were noted for the more specific outcome of rotavirus-coded hospitalizations.”
Researchers analyzed 1,201,458 cases of all-cause gastroenteritis and rotavirus-related hospitalizations of children aged younger than 5 years. The State Inpatient Databases of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project was used to compile this cohort of children from 26 states who were hospitalized between 2000 and 2012.
Researchers compared the rate of hospitalization associated with gastroenteritis in the years before the introduction of the rotavirus to the rate afterward. Before 2006, the average rate of hospitalization was 76 per 10,000 patients aged younger than 5 years. After rotavirus implementation, the rate decreased by 31% in 2008, 33% in 2009, 48% in 2010, 47% in 2011 and 55% in 2012.
The postvaccine rate of hospitalization followed the same downward trend for specific cases of rotavirus. Compared with the prevaccine rate of 16 per 10,000 children aged younger than 5 years, rotavirus hospitalizations declined by 70% in 2008, 63% in 2009, 90% in 2010, 79% in 2011 and 94% in 2012.
“The most recent reported coverage of 73% for a full rotavirus vaccine series is lower than that of other established childhood vaccines so our findings support continued efforts to increase rotavirus vaccine coverage,” Leshem and colleagues concluded. – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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