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Rotavirus vaccination saves over $1 billion in US health care costs
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The introduction of rotavirus vaccines in the United States reduced the number of acute gastroenteritis-related hospitalizations from 2008 to 2013 by 382,000, saving $1.228 billion in medical costs, according to a report published in the Journal of the Pediatric Diseases Society.
“Before the introduction of rotavirus vaccines in the U.S., rotavirus gastroenteritis resulted in an estimated 20 to 60 deaths, 55,000 to 70,000 hospitalizations, 200,000 ED visits and nearly 500,000 outpatient visits among children younger than 5 annually,” Eyal Leshem, MD, from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv University and the division of viral diseases at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, and colleagues wrote. “Since the introduction of rotavirus vaccines, rates of hospitalization in U.S. children have decreased substantially.”
To assess the differences between acute gastroenteritis-related hospitalization rates for children aged younger than 5 years before implementing a rotavirus vaccine (2000-2006) and after implementing their use (2008-2013), the researchers examined data collected through the State Inpatient Databases of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The ICD-9-CM code was used to identify discharges from short-stay acute gastroenteritis hospitalizations that involved diarrhea caused by bacterial, parasitic and viral, and unknown causes in 26 states between 2000 and 2013.
Of the 1,253,951 hospitalizations caused by acute gastroenteritis in children aged younger than 5 years, 16% were caused by rotavirus, according to coding. The rate of hospitalization before vaccination in this age group was 76 per 10,000 (range = 73 per 10,000 to 83 per 10,000). The hospitalization rates within these years were stable, with no secular trends observed between 2000 and 2006.
After vaccines were introduced, hospitalization rates fell 31%. Leshem and colleagues observed lower and delayed seasonal rotavirus peaks in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Higher and earlier peaks were observed in 2009, 2011 and 2013. The researchers suggest that the annual number of acute gastroenteritis cases in children aged younger than 5 years declined from an average of 148,912 (prevaccine) to 68,633 (2012). After the vaccine was introduced, the annual cost was reduced by a range of $134 million and $257 million.
“The introduction of routine rotavirus vaccination in 2006 was followed by substantial reductions in the rate of acute gastroenteritis-related hospitalizations,” Leshem and colleagues wrote. “Our results provide additional information that supports the effect that the implementation of rotavirus vaccines exerted on acute gastroenteritis-associated morbidity and costs in the U.S.” – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosure: The researchers provide no relevant financial disclosures.
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