Incidence of Hospitalization for Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection amongst Children in Ontario, Canada: A Population-Based Study Using Validated Health Administrative Data

Pisesky A, Benchimol EI, Wong CA, Hui C, Crowe M, Belair MA, Pojsupap S,  Karnauchow T, O'Hearn K, Yasseen AS, McNally JD.

​One in hundred children without comorbidity are hospitalized for RSV lower respiratory tract illness. This is the conclusion from a study performed of a nine year period in Ontario, Canada. Among 1.6 million children 8.7% were born prematurely or suffered congenital heart disease, bronchopulmonary dysplasia or Down syndrome. The incidence of RSV-related admission among these children was 10.2 per 1000 in the first year of life. This was 2.5 times lower than in children with comorbidity. The incidence of RSV-related admissions varied over time between 6,3 and 12 per 1000 showing the critical importance of doing this study over a period of several years. The incidence rates in this report are comparable to those found in a prospective population-based study from the United States (11 per 1000, Hall, NEJM 2007) and the Netherlands (8 per 1000, Zomer, Eur Respir J 2014).

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