Pediatric Drug and Other Shortages in the Age of Supply Chain Disruption

Shachar, Carmel; Gruppuso, Philip A.; Adashi, Eli Y.

doi:10.1001/jama.2023.4755

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…In summary, the acute overload of the German pediatric health care system was caused by a rebound of acute viral and bacterial respiratory and invasive diseases that peaked at the same time, creating an unprecedented incidence of hospitalizations in children. Shortages of essential drugs, such as antibiotics and antipyretics, in the outpatient sector [ 35 , 36 ] and a decrease in numbers of operable beds in children’s hospitals due to personnel shortages [ 37 , 38 ] aggravated the pediatric health care crisis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outbreak of severe community-acquired bacterial infections among children in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), October to December 2022

Goretzki,

van der Linden,

Itzek

et al. 2024

Infection

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Purpose In late 2022, a surge of severe S. pyogenes infections was reported in several European countries. This study assessed hospitalizations and disease severity of community-acquired bacterial infections with S. pyogenes, S. pneumoniae, N. meningitidis, and H. influenzae among children in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, during the last quarter of 2022 compared to long-term incidences. Methods Hospital cases due to bacterial infections between October and December 2022 were collected in a multicenter study (MC) from 59/62 (95%) children's hospitals in NRW and combined with surveillance data (2016–2023) from the national reference laboratories for streptococci, N. meningitidis, and H. influenzae. Overall and pathogen-specific incidence rates (IR) from January 2016 to March 2023 were estimated via capture–recapture analyses. Expected annual deaths from the studied pathogens were calculated from national death cause statistics. Results In the MC study, 153 cases with high overall disease severity were reported with pneumonia being most common (59%, n = 91). IRs of bacterial infections declined at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and massively surged to unprecedented levels in late 2022 and early 2023 (overall hospitalizations 3.5-fold), with S. pyogenes and S. pneumoniae as main drivers (18-fold and threefold). Observed deaths during the study period exceeded the expected number for the entire year in NRW by far (7 vs. 0.9). Discussion The unprecedented peak of bacterial infections and deaths in late 2022 and early 2023 was caused mainly by S. pyogenes and S. pneumoniae. Improved precautionary measures are needed to attenuate future outbreaks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%