Comparative analysis of RSV-related hospitalisations in children and adults over a 7 year-period before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Children
Elderly
RSV
Respiratory infectious diseases
Journal
Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology
ISSN: 1873-5967
Titre abrégé: J Clin Virol
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 9815671
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Sep 2023
Sep 2023
Historique:
received:
17
02
2023
revised:
19
06
2023
accepted:
28
06
2023
pubmed:
24
7
2023
medline:
24
7
2023
entrez:
23
7
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
RSV is an important cause for respiratory illness in children and the elderly. We analysed RSV seasons since 2016 in both age groups for differences, similarities and timely associations before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We studied epidemiological and clinical features of seven consecutive RSV seasons since 2016 retrospectively in children and adults who were systematically monitored for RSV infections by PCR when hospitalized in Regensburg, Germany. Data from 1903 RSV positive, hospitalised patients were analysed (1446 children, 457 adults). We observed a complete absence of RSV associated hospitalizations in season 2020/2021. While in the season of 2021/2022, RSV associated hospitalizations in children returned to considerable numbers earlier than expected, hospitalizations in the elderly were still mitigated during that season in temporal association with the continuation of NPI measures for COVID-19 in the elderly until summer of 2022. Overall, children were hospitalized more often for RSV, while the elderly showed more severe outcomes. RSV hospitalisations continuously increase in both age groups, following a bi-annual pattern of severe and less severe seasons, which was not altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. We demonstrate the relation between RSV waves in children and the elderly. NPI measures may protect the elderly from RSV infections and epidemiological data could be used to predict RSV waves early enough to prepare countermeasures.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
RSV is an important cause for respiratory illness in children and the elderly. We analysed RSV seasons since 2016 in both age groups for differences, similarities and timely associations before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS
METHODS
We studied epidemiological and clinical features of seven consecutive RSV seasons since 2016 retrospectively in children and adults who were systematically monitored for RSV infections by PCR when hospitalized in Regensburg, Germany.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Data from 1903 RSV positive, hospitalised patients were analysed (1446 children, 457 adults). We observed a complete absence of RSV associated hospitalizations in season 2020/2021. While in the season of 2021/2022, RSV associated hospitalizations in children returned to considerable numbers earlier than expected, hospitalizations in the elderly were still mitigated during that season in temporal association with the continuation of NPI measures for COVID-19 in the elderly until summer of 2022. Overall, children were hospitalized more often for RSV, while the elderly showed more severe outcomes. RSV hospitalisations continuously increase in both age groups, following a bi-annual pattern of severe and less severe seasons, which was not altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrate the relation between RSV waves in children and the elderly. NPI measures may protect the elderly from RSV infections and epidemiological data could be used to predict RSV waves early enough to prepare countermeasures.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37481874
pii: S1386-6532(23)00153-1
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2023.105530
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
105530Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.