Affiliation:
1. Department of Global Public Health Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Sweden
2. Sachs' Children and Youth Hospital, South General Hospital Stockholm Sweden
3. Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital Karolinska University Hospital Stockholm Sweden
4. Department of Clinical Sciences, Intervention and Technology, Division of ENT Diseases Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Sweden
5. Department of ENT Diseases Karolinska University Hospital Stockholm Sweden
Abstract
AbstractAimThe pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which covered seven serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae (PCV7), was introduced in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2007. It was replaced by a 13‐valent vaccine (PCV13) in 2011. We previously reported a decreased incidence of pneumonia and sinusitis among young children 4 years after the introduction of the PCV7. This study followed the incidence of pneumonia, sinusitis, mastoiditis and meningitis for four more years.MethodsWe studied validated hospital registry data covering children up to 17 years of age, who were hospitalised in the Stockholm region from 2003 to 2016, when the child population peaked at 485 687. All 11 115 cases diagnosed with pneumonia, coded as bacterial pneumonia, sinusitis, mastoiditis, bacterial meningitis or empyema, were identified. The controls had viral pneumonia or pyelonephritis.ResultsThe incidence rates for children under 2 years of age hospitalised for sinusitis, mastoiditis and meningitis decreased significantly by 61%–79% during the eight‐year post‐vaccination period. Hospitalisations for bacterial pneumonia decreased by 19%–25% in the same age group. These changes were probably due to both the vaccines and changes in diagnosis routines.ConclusionThe effect of vaccination on children under 2 years of age was sustained 8 years after the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.
Subject
General Medicine,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health