Study suggests RSV vaccine only for premature neonates with lung disease.(respiratory syncytial virus )

2002 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A cost-benefits analysis suggests that of babies discharged from neonatal intensive care units, in Northern Ireland at least, only those with chronic lung disease who are very premature should receive the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine during the RSV season.

J. McCormick and colleagues, Royal Maternity Hospital, Belfast, looked at how many babies who had been released from a regional neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were readmitted with RSV. They also characterized this group, then used the data "as a predictive tool to estimate the number of babies likely to suffer readmission with RSV for the year 2000 cohort. Using the published efficacies of Palivizumab, the costs and benefits of protecting this cohort were assessed."

"Retrospective analysis of 2507 NICU inpatient records from January 1, 1994-December 31,1999 from the Royal Maternity Hospital, Belfast, were compared with data on positive RSV samples from 1,790 patients between January 1, 1995-December 31, 1999 from the Northern Ireland Regional Virus Laboratory. The analysis yielded 136 (7.6%) ex-NICU patients among the positive RSV samples over this 5-year period. Characteristic seasonal peaks of RSV infection with interseasonal variability were observed," said the researchers.

"Of those readmitted, 86.9% were hospitalized with RSV before their first birthday. A calculated readmission rate of 5.4% for all NICU graduates, and 6.4% for those less than or equal to35 weeks, was found, leading to an expectation of 36 readmissions from the 668 NICU graduates in the year 2000 over the next 1-2 years, 20 of whom would be less than or equal to35 weeks and 12 would be less than or equal to32 weeks," McCormick's group said.

They calculated ...