Hospitalizations for intussusception before and after the reintroduction of rotavirus vaccine in the United States

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether hospital discharges for intussusception in children younger than 1 year have changed since the reintroduction of rotavirus vaccine in the United States.

Design: Serial cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: US hospitals.

Participants: Children younger than 1 year with a discharge diagnosis of intussusception identified in the Kids' Inpatient Database, a series of nationally representative data sets of pediatric hospital discharges in the United States with 4 available years prior to vaccine reintroduction (1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006) and 1 year after (2009).

Main exposures: Hospital discharge before vs after rotavirus vaccine reintroduction.

Outcome measures: Total number and rate of hospital discharges for infants younger than 1 year with a diagnosis of intussusception (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 560.0).

Results: From 1997 to 2006, there was no change in the total number of hospital discharges for intussusception, with a small decrease in the rate of intussusception discharges (41.6 [95% CI, 36.7-46.5] to 36.5 [95% CI, 31.7-41.2] per 100,000 infants). Based on the trend, the predicted rate of discharges for intussusception in 2009 was 36.0 (95% CI, 30.2-41.8) per 100,000 infants. The measured rate of hospital discharges for intussusception in 2009 was 33.3 (95% CI, 29.0-37.6) per 100,000 infants.

Conclusion: The reintroduction of rotavirus vaccine since 2006 has not resulted in a detectable increase in the number of hospital discharges for intussusception among US infants.

Figure

Observed and predicted hospital discharges for intussusception for infants before (1997–2006) and after (2009) rotavirus vaccine reintroduction in the United States. CI indicates confidence interval.