Prevalence and Risk Factors of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Children under 5 Years of Age in the WHO European Region: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

A respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of respiratory tract infection in children under 5 years. However, RSV infection in the European Region of the World Health Organization has not been systematically reviewed. The aim was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with RSV in children under 5 years of age in European regions. A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed. CINAHL, Medline, LILACS, ProQuest, SciELO, and Scopus databases were consulted for studies published in the last 5 years, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis guidelines. The search equation was “respiratory syncytial virus AND (newborn OR infant OR child) AND (prevalence OR risk factors)”. Studies reporting the prevalence of RSV were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. A total of 20 articles were included. The meta-analytic prevalence estimation of RSV, with a sample of n = 16,115 children, was 46% (95% CI 34–59%). The main risk factors were age, male gender, winter season, and environmental factors such as cold temperatures, higher relative humidity, high concentrations of benzene, exposure to tobacco, and living in urban areas. Robust age-specific estimates of RSV infection in healthy children should be promoted in order to determine the optimal age for immunization. In addition, it is necessary to analyse in greater depth the potentially predictive factors of RSV infection, to be included in prevention strategies.

Incidence and risk factors of hospitalisations for respiratory syncytial virus among children aged less than 2 years

“…RSV seasonality in our study was consistently observed during the cold fall-winter months of November–March, in agreement with prior reports [ 4 , 32 , 36 , 41 , 51 – 54 ]. Multiple meteorological factors were shown to be associated with RSV incidence rates and activity [ 53 – 55 ].…”

“…Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a main cause of acute bronchiolitis [ 1 ], and pneumonia in infants and young children [ 2 , 3 ]. Usually the incidence of RSV bronchiolitis displays a seasonal pattern, during the cold (winter) months in regions with temperate climates [ 4 ]. Globally, the highest incidence of severe RSV lower respiratory tract infection was reported among children aged less than 6 months [ 2 , 5 , 6 ].…”

Respiratory Syncytial Virus: New Challenges for Molecular Epidemiology Surveillance and Vaccination Strategy in Patients with ILI/SARI

“…In our series, gender resulted in not being a risk factor for hRSV infection; a similar result was reported by Pellegrinelli et al [31] in children up to 5 years of age presenting ILI symptoms, whereas Grunberg et al [32] highlighted a significant higher prevalence of hRSV infections in females. Nevertheless, there is still ambiguity in the global epidemiological data regarding gender [33], and sex differences in respiratory viral pathogenesis have also been hypothesized, with males more susceptible to severe outcomes from respiratory viral infections at younger and older ages [34].…”

Potential Neurocognitive Symptoms Due to Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection

“…As it is known, the highest risk age group susceptible to viral infection are infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised people [25][26][27][28]. However, during pregnancy, the women increase their probability of having complications from a respiratory viral infection, such as preeclampsia, acute cardiopulmonary diseases, respiratory distress, and pneumonia, among others [29,30].…”