Importance: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) resurgences have been noted following the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries. Recent findings suggest that the 2021 and 2022 RSV seasons were more severe than in past seasons, and age distribution may have shifted toward older children in the younger than 5 years age group.
Objectives: To estimate age-specific changes in RSV hospital-based burden of disease before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and to compare incidence by Medicaid use.
Design, setting, and participants: This retrospective cohort study included children younger than 5 years diagnosed with RSV and bronchiolitis at 50 US children's hospitals in 10 US geographic regions. The included participants had an encounter in intensive care, inpatient, emergency, or observational units, between June 1, 2015, and March 31, 2023.
Exposures: Diagnosis of RSV, bronchiolitis, or both at encounter.
Main outcome and measures: Incidence rate ratio of hospital use within each care unit before vs after the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized a priori that incidence of hospital use would increase overall in 2021 and 2022 compared with 2015 to 2019 and that the increase would be greater among children 12 months and older.
Results: Of 924 061 study participants (median [IQR] age, 8 (5-16) months; 535 619 [58.0%] male), 348 077 (37.7%) were diagnosed with RSV. Of these, 187 850 (54.0%) were hospitalized. Incidence rate ratios of hospitalization increased for all ages in 2021 and 2022 compared with 2015 to 2019. Children aged 24 to 59 months were 4.86 (95% CI, 4.75-4.98) times as likely to be hospitalized in 2022 compared with 2015 to 2019, whereas infants aged 0 to 5 months were 1.77 (95% CI, 1.74-1.80) times as likely. Medicaid patients were more likely to be hospitalized than non-Medicaid patients regardless of year.
Conclusions and relevance: Hospitalizations for RSV and bronchiolitis demonstrated atypical seasonality in 2021 and 2022, with an overall increase in RSV encounters. Postpandemic RSV hospitalization increased for all ages, but especially among older children, whereas bronchiolitis hospitalization was decreased or unchanged compared with earlier seasons. These findings suggest some of the observed increase in RSV hospital use may be due to increased testing.