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Observational Study
. 2022 Mar;16(2):298-307.
doi: 10.1111/irv.12928. Epub 2021 Nov 3.

Occurrence and disease burden of respiratory syncytial virus and other respiratory pathogens in adults aged ≥65 years in community: A prospective cohort study in Japan

Daisuke Kurai  1 , Makiko Natori  2 , Maho Yamada  2 , Richuan Zheng  2 , Yuki Saito  2 , Hiroshi Takahashi  3
Affiliations
Observational Study

Occurrence and disease burden of respiratory syncytial virus and other respiratory pathogens in adults aged ≥65 years in community: A prospective cohort study in Japan

Daisuke Kurai et al. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Background: The frequency and clinical profile of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-acute respiratory disease (ARD) in older adults in Japan has not been well-characterized.

Methods: This was a multicenter prospective observational cohort study to evaluate the occurrence rate of ARD in 1000 older adult participants (≥65 years) for 52 weeks during the 2019 to 2020 season. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction panel was used for pathogen detection in nasopharyngeal swab from participants diagnosed with ARD. Symptoms and impact of ARD was assessed using the Respiratory Infection Intensity and Impact Questionnaire (RiiQ™). The study was registered at UMIN (https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/): UMIN000037891.

Results: RSV-ARD was detected in 24/1000 (2.4%) participants and RSV-lower respiratory tract disease in 8/1000 (0.8%) participants. The median duration of RSV-ARD was 18 days. All 24 participants had utilized the medical services of outpatient visits and only 1 (4.2%) participant was hospitalized for RSV-ARD. The most common viruses other than RSV that caused ARD (detected in >10 participants) were human rhinovirus/enterovirus, parainfluenza 3, coronavirus OC43, human metapneumovirus, and influenza A/H1. The most frequent symptoms of RSV-ARD were cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, and expectoration.

Conclusions: RSV was reported as a major pathogen for respiratory infections in older adults in Japan.

Keywords: Japanese older adults; acute respiratory disease; community; respiratory infection intensity questionnaire (RiiQ™); respiratory pathogens; respiratory syncytial virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflict of interest: NM, YM, ZR, and SY are full time employees and KD had been a consultant of Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Tokyo, Japan. NM and YM are J&J stockholders.

No conflict of interest: TH reports no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Schematic diagram of the study. Greyed cells in the above figure indicate scheduled activities to be performed at home. White cells in the above figure indicate scheduled activities to be performed at the study site. *Of which >30% aged 65 to 74 years and >30% aged ≥75 years and older (including >5% of 85 years and older as possible). **In the case that participants recovered and symptoms recurred, ARD was defined as a single episode or a separate episode of respiratory illness by the clinical judgment of the investigator; however, the episodes of respiratory illness that occurred >28 days of each other as a separate episode of illness were to be counted. Abbreviations: ARD = acute respiratory disease, ICF = informed consent form, RiiQ™ = Respiratory Infection Intensity Questionnaire, RSV = respiratory syncytial virus
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Seasonality of occurrence of acute respiratory disease (ARD) by each pathogen during the whole study period. Abbreviations: BordeP =  Bordetella Pertussis , CoronaV = Coronavirus, hMPV = Human Metapneumovirus, MycopP =  Mycoplasma Pneumoniae , Para = Parainfluenza, Rhino/Entero = Human Rhinovirus/Enterovirus, RSV = Respiratory Syncytial Virus
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