Impact of rotavirus vaccination in Australian children below 5 years of age

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the impact of administration of two-dose rotavirus (RV) vaccine (RIX4414; GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines) among children aged less than 5 y in three states/territories of Australia. Aggregated and de-identified data on rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) and all-cause gastroenteritis (AGE) from July 1998–June 2009 were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare database. The baseline incidence (July 1998–June 2006) of RVGE hospitalizations before RV vaccine introduction in New South Wales (NSW), the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory (NT) were 33.75, 42.93 and 288.67 per 10 000 child-years, respectively among children aged 0–11 mo. Following RV vaccine introduction in NSW, the ACT and the NT, incidence of RVGE hospitalizations reduced to 13.06, 17.35 and 47.52 per 10 000 child-years, respectively, during July 2007–June 2008 and 3.87, 8.40 and 122.79 per 10,000 child-years, respectively, during July 2008–June 2009 among children aged 0–11 mo. Reductions in RVGE and AGE were also observed in all children below 5 y of age in NSW and the ACT. Overall reduction in hospitalizations due to RVGE and AGE was observed following RV vaccine introduction into the NIP in Australia.

Keywords: :

• incidence
• hospitalization
• rotavirus
• gastroenteritis
• Australia

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

CC, SPN, EL, and GR are employed by the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies. AP, MG, and YL were employed by the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies at the time of study. MG has received money for travel related to the presentation of the results from this study. SPN and EL hold shares of GlaxoSmithKline.

Acknowledgments

This study (eTrack: 114910) was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA. GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA also funded all costs associated with the development of the manuscript. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01236066

The authors would like to thank the Departments of Health of Northern Territory, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory for kindly providing access to the data used in this study. The authors are grateful to Deloitte Access Economics Pty Ltd for the data request and analysis. The authors also thank Harshith Bhat for medical writing and Lakshmi Hariharan for editorial assistance and coordination in the development of the manuscript (both employed by the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies).