TUESDAY, June 10, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Since the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine, diarrhea-related health care utilization and costs have declined in children in the United States, according to research published online June 9 in Pediatrics.
Eyal Leshem, M.D., of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed claims data for a retrospective cohort of U.S. children younger than 5 years. The authors sought to assess the effect of rotavirus vaccine implementation on diarrhea-associated health care utilization.
The researchers found that, compared with the average rate of rotavirus-coded hospitalizations during the prevaccine period (2001 to 2006), rates decreased by 75 percent in 2007 to 2008, 60 percent in 2008 to 2009, 94 percent in 2009 to 2010, and 80 percent in 2010 to 2011. In 2010 to 2011, compared with unvaccinated children, the rate of rotavirus-coded hospitalizations decreased by 92 percent in recipients of the pentavalent (RV5) vaccine and by 96 percent in recipients of the monovalent (RV1) vaccine. Compared with rates during the prevaccine period in 2001 to 2006, rotavirus-coded hospitalization rates among unvaccinated children were reduced by 50 percent in 2007 to 2008, 77 percent in 2009 to 2010, and 25 percent in 2010 to 2011.
"In summary, our findings demonstrate the substantial and sustained decline in diarrhea-associated health care utilization and related costs in U.S. children after rotavirus vaccine implementation," the authors write.
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