The burden of respiratory syncytial virus in children under 5 years of age in Norway

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate age-specific incidence of medically attended respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in hospitalised Norwegian children and describe disease epidemiology.

Methods: Active prospective hospital surveillance for RSV in children <59 months of age was conducted during 2015-2018. All febrile children 12-59 months of age were enrolled, whereas children <12 months were enrolled based on respiratory symptoms regardless of fever. Surveillance data were linked to national registry data to estimate the clinical burden of RSV.

Results: Of the children enrolled, 1096 (40%) were infected with RSV. The highest incidence rates were found in children 1 month of age, with a peak incidence of 43 per 1000 during the 2016-2017 season. In comparison, children 24-59 months of age had an infection rate of 1.4 per 1000 during the same winter season. The peak season was during the 2016-2017 winter, with an incidence rate of 6.0 per 1000 children 0-59 months of age. In the study population a total of 168 (15%) of the infected children had pre-existing medical conditions predisposing for more severe disease. High infection rates were found in this population.

Conclusions: Children with comorbidities showed high hospital contact rates, but the majority of children in need of medical attention associated with RSV infection were previously healthy.

Keywords: Children; Disease burden; RSV; Respiratory syncytial virus; Surveillance.