Impact of the pneumococcal 10-valent vaccine on reducing hospitalization for community-acquired pneumonia in children

Pneumonia in Children under 5 Years: Temporal Trends and Spatial Patterns of Hospitalizations in Brazil

This study aimed to identify temporal and spatial patterns in the distribution of hospitalization rates for pneumonia in children under 5 years in Brazil. An ecological study was developed using data from the Unified Health System of hospitalizations for pneumonia in children under 5 years in Brazil from 2000 to 2019. Hospitalization rates per 1,000 children were calculated and Joinpoint Regression analyzed the temporal trends. Different spatial analysis techniques were performed. Annual rates of 25 hospitalizations per 1,000 children were observed in 2000 and of 13.83 per 1,000 children in 2019, with a significant downward trend for the country (annual percentage change = -3.4%; 95% confidence interval: -3.8 to -3.0) and for the regions. There was weak spatial autocorrelation; however, there were regions with high rates of hospitalization in the south region and clusters of low rates in the northeast and southeast. Clusters of areas with high hospitalization rates were observed in areas of favorable socioeconomic conditions and provision of health services in the interior of southern Brazil. There is a decreasing trend in hospitalizations for pneumonia in general; however, there are clusters of high rates in the south of Brazil.

Systematic review on the impact of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ten valent (PCV10) or thirteen valent (PCV13) on all-cause, radiologically confirmed and severe pneumonia hospitalisation rates and pneumonia mortality in children 0-9 years old

Background

There is an ongoing need to assess the impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) to guide the use of these potentially valuable but under-utilized vaccines against pneumonia, which is one of the most common causes of post-neonatal mortality.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of the literature on PCV10 and PCV13 impact on all-cause, radiologically confirmed and severe pneumonia hospitalisation rates as well as all-cause and pneumonia-specific mortality rates. We included studies that were published from 2003 onwards, had a post-licensure observational study design, and reported on any of our defined outcomes in children aged between 0-9 years. We derived incidence rates (IRs), incidence rate ratios (IRRs) or percent differences (%). We assessed all studies for risk of bias using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) quality assessment tool.

Results

We identified a total of 1885 studies and included 43 comparing one or more of the following hospitalised outcomes of interest: all-cause pneumonia (n = 27), severe pneumonia (n = 6), all-cause empyema (n = 8), radiologically confirmed pneumonia (n = 8), pneumococcal pneumonia (n = 7), and pneumonia mortality (n = 10). No studies evaluated all-cause mortality. Studies were conducted in all WHO regions except South East Asia Region (SEAR) and low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) in the Western Pacific Region (WPR). Among children <5 years old, PCV impact ranged from 7% to 60% for all-cause pneumonia hospitalisation, 8% to 90% for severe pneumonia hospitalisation, 12% to 79% for radiologically confirmed pneumonia, and 45% to 85% for pneumococcal confirmed pneumonia. For pneumonia-related mortality, impact was found in three studies and ranged from 10% to 78%. No obvious differences were found in vaccine impact between PCV10 and PCV13. One study found a 17% reduction in all-cause pneumonia among children aged 5-9 years, while another found a reduction of 81% among those aged 5-17 years. A third study found a 57% reduction in all-cause empyema among children 5-14 years of age.

Conclusion

We found clear evidence of declines in hospitalisation rates due to all-cause, severe, radiologically confirmed, and bacteraemic pneumococcal pneumonia in children aged <5 years, supporting ongoing use of PCV10 and PCV13. However, there were few studies from countries with the highest <5-year mortality and no studies from SEAR and LMICs in the WPR. Standardising methods of future PCV impact studies is recommended.

Systematic review on the impact of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ten valent (PCV10) or thirteen valent (PCV13) on all-cause, radiologically confirmed and severe pneumonia hospitalisation rates and pneumonia mortality in children 0-9 years old

Background

There is an ongoing need to assess the impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) to guide the use of these potentially valuable but under-utilized vaccines against pneumonia, which is one of the most common causes of post-neonatal mortality.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of the literature on PCV10 and PCV13 impact on all-cause, radiologically confirmed and severe pneumonia hospitalisation rates as well as all-cause and pneumonia-specific mortality rates. We included studies that were published from 2003 onwards, had a post-licensure observational study design, and reported on any of our defined outcomes in children aged between 0-9 years. We derived incidence rates (IRs), incidence rate ratios (IRRs) or percent differences (%). We assessed all studies for risk of bias using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) quality assessment tool.

Results

We identified a total of 1885 studies and included 43 comparing one or more of the following hospitalised outcomes of interest: all-cause pneumonia (n = 27), severe pneumonia (n = 6), all-cause empyema (n = 8), radiologically confirmed pneumonia (n = 8), pneumococcal pneumonia (n = 7), and pneumonia mortality (n = 10). No studies evaluated all-cause mortality. Studies were conducted in all WHO regions except South East Asia Region (SEAR) and low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) in the Western Pacific Region (WPR). Among children <5 years old, PCV impact ranged from 7% to 60% for all-cause pneumonia hospitalisation, 8% to 90% for severe pneumonia hospitalisation, 12% to 79% for radiologically confirmed pneumonia, and 45% to 85% for pneumococcal confirmed pneumonia. For pneumonia-related mortality, impact was found in three studies and ranged from 10% to 78%. No obvious differences were found in vaccine impact between PCV10 and PCV13. One study found a 17% reduction in all-cause pneumonia among children aged 5-9 years, while another found a reduction of 81% among those aged 5-17 years. A third study found a 57% reduction in all-cause empyema among children 5-14 years of age.

Conclusion

We found clear evidence of declines in hospitalisation rates due to all-cause, severe, radiologically confirmed, and bacteraemic pneumococcal pneumonia in children aged <5 years, supporting ongoing use of PCV10 and PCV13. However, there were few studies from countries with the highest <5-year mortality and no studies from SEAR and LMICs in the WPR. Standardising methods of future PCV impact studies is recommended.

The impact of 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine upon hospitalization rate of children with pneumonia in different Brazilian administrative regions

BACKGROUND

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most frequent bacterial causative agent of pneumonia. Due to its significant contribution to the morbidity and mortality profile and the country's economy, the 10-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PCV10) was introduced in Brazil in 2010. Brazil is divided into five administrative regions which differ in social-economic indices among each other. Estimates of PCV10 impact on hospitalization rates due to pneumonia stratified by distinct Brazilian regions are limited. We assessed this issue.

METHODS

This is a population-based ecological investigation. Data about hospitalizations due to pneumonia, asthma or urinary tract infection (UTI) among patients aged under 20 years in the pre-exposure (2003-2009) and in the post-exposure (2011-2017) periods were retrieved from the National Health System - Hospital Information System (SIH-SUS) database. The total resident population by age group in each year was retrieved from the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics database. Hospitalization rates were estimated for each Brazilian region and the rates obtained in the pre-exposure and in the post-exposure periods were compared by Prais-Winsten regression. The Human Development Index (HDI) evolved differently in the distinct regions during the study period.

RESULTS

Overall, hospitalization rates due to pneumonia declined by 34.5%. Similar trends were observed for hospitalization rates due to asthma and UTI. The same pattern was observed in each Brazilian region. However, the North region was the only one that presented an exponential incidence decline pattern, which could be explained by PCV10 implementation (declined by 10.8% in the quadratic regression, p < 0.01). Only in the North region, significant decline was observed among patients aged 0-4 years (-12.5%; p = 0.01), 5-9 years (-38.5%; p < 0.01) or 10-14 years (-10.7%; p = 0.03).

CONCLUSION

Significant variation in the downward trend of hospitalization rate was only found in the North region, which evolved from very low HDI in 2003; medium HDI in 2010 to high HDI in 2017.