Hospital bed occupancy for rotavirus and all cause acute gastroenteritis in two Finnish hospitals before and after the implementation of the national rotavirus vaccination program with RotaTeq®

Abstract

BackgroundVaccination-impact studies of the live-attenuated pentavalent oral vaccine Rotateq® have demonstrated that the burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis has been reduced significantly after the introduction of RotaTeq® vaccination, but less is known about the benefit of this vaccination on hospital overcrowding.MethodsAs part of an observational surveillance conducted during the RV seasons 2000/2001 to 2011/2012, we analysed hospital discharge data collected retrospectively from two Finnish hospitals (Oulu and Tampere), concerning ICD 10 codes A00-09 (acute gastroenteritis, AGE) and A08.0 (rotaviral acute gastroenteritis RV AGE). We estimated the reduction in the number of beds occupied and analysed the bed occupancy rate, for RV AGE and all cause AGE, among 0–16 year-old children, before and after the implementation of the RV immunisation program.ResultsThe rate of bed days occupied for RV AGE was reduced by 86% (95% CI 66%-94%) in Tampere and 79% (95% CI 47%-92%) in Oulu after RV vaccination implementation. For all cause AGE, reduction was 50% (95% CI 29% to 65%) in Tampere and 70% (95% CI 58% to 79%) in Oulu. Results were similar among 0–2 year-old children. This effect was also observed on overcrowding in both hospitals, with a bed occupancy rate for all cause AGE >25% in only 1% of the time in Tampere and 9% in Oulu after the implementation of the immunisation program, compared to 13% and 48% in the pre-vaccination period respectively. After extrapolation to the whole country, the annual number of prevented hospitalizations for all cause AGE in the post-vaccination period in Finland was estimated at 1,646 and 2,303 admissions for 0–2 and 0–16 year-old children respectively.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that universal RV vaccination is associated with a clear decrease in the number of bed days and occupancy rates for RV AGE and all cause AGE. Positive consequences include increase in quality of care and a better healthcare management during winter epidemics.

Vaccination Against Rotavirus Infection: 10-Year Global Experience of Successful Use

“…В частности, по результатам иссле-дования S. Hartwig с соавт. [41], показатель предотвра-щенных госпитализаций по причине ОКИ после внедре-ния вакцинации в Финляндии составил 1646 и 2303 в группе детей 0-2 и 0-16 лет соответственно.…”

“…В Австрии при охвате 72-87% детского населения в разных регионах снижение частоты РВГЭ достигло 61-98%, а госпитализации детей младше 5 лет с РВГЭ -на 74%, в том числе невакцинированных детей 32-60 мес -на 22% [13]. В Финляндии в результате внедрения рутинной вакцинации ПВРВВ госпитализация детей с РВГЭ снизилась в Тампере на 86%, в Оулу -на 79%, госпитализация по поводу любого случая ОКИ -на 70 и 50% соответственно; через 4 года действия приви-вочной программы сокращение госпитализаций с РВГЭ достигло 94,4% [41,42].…”

Improving the Hospital Quality of Care during Winter Periods by Optimizing Budget Allocation Between Rotavirus Vaccination and Bed Expansion

“…To adequately tackle this annual problem one may consider building more infrastructures but that might not totally resolve the issue of nosocomial infection and AMR [ 8 , 9 ]. One should also think outside the hospital infrastructure and introduce vaccination against infections that may decrease the patient hospital inflow [ 5 , 10 , 11 ]. The latter was observed after introducing rotavirus vaccination in 2006 in Belgium, which resulted in a highly significant improvement of the hospital QoC during the peak season [ 4 ].…”

The Sustained Rotavirus Vaccination Impact on Nosocomial Infection, Duration of Hospital Stay, and Age: The RotaBIS Study (2005–2012)

“…It shows a seasonal pattern in the more temperate climates, resulting in epidemic peaks during winter and spring [1, 2]. As a result pediatric wards are often overwhelmed with a high bed occupancy rate due to diarrheal disease [3]. High rates of infant hospitalization for other conditions that occur in the same period, such as bronchiolitis, can further compound the problem of overcrowding.…”