The impact of pertussis vaccine programme changes on pertussis disease burden in Manitoba, 1992–2017—an age-period-cohort analysis

Abstract

Abstract Background Changes to pertussis vaccination programmes can have impacts on disease burden that should be estimated independently from factors such as age- and period-related trends. We used age-period-cohort (APC) models to explore pertussis incidence in Manitoba over a 25-year period (1992–2017). Methods We identified all laboratory-confirmed cases of pertussis from Manitoba’s Communicable Diseases Database and calculated age-standardized incidence rates. We used APC models to investigate trends in pertussis incidence. Results During the study period, 2479 cases were reported. Age-standardized rates were highest during a large outbreak in 1994 (55 cases/100 000 person-years), with much lower peaks in 1998, 2012 and 2016. We saw strong age and cohort effects in the APC models, with a steady decrease in incidence with increasing age and increased risk in the cohort born between 1980 and 1995. Conclusions The highest risk for pertussis was consistently in young children, regardless of birth cohort or time period. The 1981 programme change to an adsorbed whole-cell pertussis vaccine with low effectiveness resulted in reduced protection in the 1981–95 birth cohort and contributed to the largest outbreak of disease during the 25-year study period.