Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov 11;10(10):951-957.
doi: 10.1093/jpids/piab017.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Associated Hospitalizations in Children With Neurological Disorders, 2006-2015

Erica Billig Rose  1 , Rebecca M Dahl  2 , Fiona P Havers  1 , Georgina Peacock  3 , Gayle E Langley  1
Affiliations

Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Associated Hospitalizations in Children With Neurological Disorders, 2006-2015

Erica Billig Rose et al. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. .

Abstract

Background: We quantified the risk of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalizations and severe outcomes among children with neurological disorders.

Methods: We estimated RSV-specific and RSV-associated hospitalization rates using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes from 2 insurance claims IBM MarketScan Research Databases (Commercial and Multi-State Medicaid) from July 2006 through June 2015. For comparison, a simple random sample of 10% of all eligible children was selected to represent the general population. Relative rates (RRs) of RSV hospitalization were calculated by dividing rates for children with neurological disorders by rates for children in the general population by age group and season.

Results: The RSV-specific hospitalization rate for children with any neurological condition was 4.2 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.1, 4.4) per 1000 person-years, and the RSV-associated hospitalization rate was 7.0 (95% CI: 6.9, 7.2) per 1000 person-years among children <19 years of age. Among privately insured children, the overall RR of RSV hospitalization in children with neurological disorders compared with the general population was 10.7 (95% CI: 10.0, 11.4) for RSV-specific hospitalization and 11.1 (95% CI: 10.5, 11.7) for RSV-associated hospitalizations. Among children in Medicaid, the RSV-specific hospitalization RR was 6.1 (95% CI: 5.8, 6.5) and the RSV-associated hospitalization RR was 6.4 (95% CI: 6.2, 6.7) compared with the general population.

Conclusions: Our population-based study of children with neurological disorders found that the risk of RSV hospitalization was 6 to 12 times higher among children with neurological disorders than among the general pediatric population. These findings should be considered when determining who should be targeted for current and future RSV interventions.

Keywords: hospitalizations; neurologic disorders; respiratory syncytial virus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

References

    1. Havers F, Fry AM, Chen J, et al. Hospitalizations attributable to respiratory infections among children with neurologic disorders. J Pediatr 2016; 170:135–41 e1–5. - PubMed
    1. Inal-Ince D, Savci S, Arikan H, et al. Effects of scoliosis on respiratory muscle strength in patients with neuromuscular disorders. Spine J 2009; 9(12):981–6. - PubMed
    1. Singh G, Behrman AL, Aslan SC, et al. Respiratory functional and motor control deficits in children with spinal cord injury. Respir Physiol Neurobiol 2018; 247:174–80. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shi T, McAllister DA, O′Brien KL, et al. Global, regional, and national disease burden estimates of acute lower respiratory infections due to respiratory syncytial virus in young children in 2015: a systematic review and modelling study. Lancet 2017; 390(10098):946–58. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nair H, Nokes DJ, Gessner BD, et al. Global burden of acute lower respiratory infections due to respiratory syncytial virus in young children: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet 2010; 375(9725):1545–55. - PMC - PubMed