Estimating the burden of adult hospital admissions due to RSV and other
respiratory pathogens in England
Abstract
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common seasonal respiratory virus
and an important cause of illness among infants, but the burden of RSV
disease is not well described among the older population. The objective
of this study was to estimate the age-specific incidence of hospital
admission among over 65s due to respiratory illnesses attributable to
RSV in England to inform optimal vaccine and therapeutic interventions.
We used linear multiple regression to examine the effect of changes in
weekly counts of respiratory pathogens on the weekly counts of
respiratory hospital admissions. The study population was all patients
aged 65 years or over admitted to English hospitals between 2nd August
2010 and 30th July 2017. RSV was estimated to account for a seasonal
annual average of 71 (95% CI 52-90) respiratory admissions per 100,000
in adults age 65-74 and 251 (95% CI 186-316) admissions per 100,000
adults age 75+. Pneumococcus was the pathogen responsible for highest
annual average respiratory admission with 448 (95% CI 310-587)
admissions per 100,000 adults age 65-74 and 1010 (95%CI 527-1493)
admissions per 100,000 adults aged 75+. This study shows that RSV
continues to exert a significant burden of disease among older adults in
England. These findings will support development of policy for the use
of RSV therapeutics and vaccines in this age group.