Rotavirus Vaccine Linked to Decrease In Pediatric Gastroenteritis Hospitalizations

HealthDay News — Implementation of rotavirus vaccination correlated with a reduction in acute gastroenteritis (AGE)-related hospitalization rates among children <5 years, according to a study published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Eyal Leshem, MD, from the Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and colleagues analyzed data from the State Inpatient Databases of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project to compare AGE-related hospitalization rates among children <5 years during the pre- and post-rotavirus vaccine periods (2000 to 2006 and 2008 to 2013, respectively).

The researchers found that 16% of the 1,253,951 AGE-related hospitalizations among children aged <5 years were coded as a rotavirus-related hospitalization. 

The annual number of AGE-related hospitalizations decreased from 2008 to 2013; an estimated 382,858 hospitalizations were averted, resulting in an estimated cost savings of $1.228 billion.

“The introduction of routine rotavirus vaccination in 2006 was followed by substantial reductions in the rate of AGE-related hospitalizations,” the authors write. “Our results provide additional information that supports the effect that the implementation of rotavirus vaccines exerted on AGE-associated morbidity and costs in the United States.”

Reference

Leshem W, Tate JE, Steiner CA, Curns AT, Lopman BA, Parashar UD. National estimates of reductions in acute gastroenteritis-related hospitalizations and associated costs in US children after implementation of rotavirus vaccine [published online August 10, 2017]. J Pediatr Infect Dis Soc. doi: 10.1093/jpids/pix057