RSV Disease Burden in Primary Care in Italy: A Multi‐Region Pediatric Study, Winter Season 2022–2023

Abstract

IntroductionHuman respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most frequent causes of respiratory infections in children under 5 years of age, but its socioeconomic impact and burden in primary care settings is still little studied.MethodsDuring the 2022/2023 winter season, 55 pediatricians from five Italian regions participated in our community‐based study. They collected a nasal swab for RSV molecular test from 650 patients under the age of 5 with acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and performed a baseline questionnaire. The clinical and socioeconomic burden of RSV disease in primary care was evaluated by two follow‐up questionnaires completed by the parents of positive children on Days 14 and 30.ResultsRSV laboratory‐confirmed cases were 37.8% of the total recruited ARI cases, with RSV subtype B accounting for the majority (65.4%) of RSV‐positive swabs. RSV‐positive children were younger than RSV‐negative ones (median 12.5 vs. 16.5 months). The mean duration of symptoms for all children infected by RSV was 11.47 ± 6.27 days. We did not observe substantial differences in clinical severity between the two RSV subtypes, but RSV‐A positive patients required more additional pediatric examinations than RSV‐B cases. The socioeconomic impact of RSV infection was considerable, causing 53% of children to be absent from school, 46% of parents to lose working days, and 25% of families to incur extra costs.ConclusionsOur findings describe a baseline of the RSV disease burden in primary care in Italy before the introduction of upcoming immunization strategies.

Impact of Nirsevimab Immunization on Pediatric Hospitalization Rates: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024)

“…Even though RSV can result in a high case fatality ratio in children affected by pre-existing comorbidities [ 4 , 5 , 19 , 21 , 26 , 32 , 33 ], most of the cases occur in otherwise healthy infants [ 4 , 34 ] and are usually clustered in seasonal epidemics (i.e., “RSV season”) associated with seasonal climate that forces individuals in enclosed spaces, increasing the likelihood for the inter-human spreading of the pathogen [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Therefore, the RSV season in the Northern Hemisphere has historically been associated with the winter season, peaking between December and January [ 4 , 26 ], extensively overlapping with other respiratory viruses such as influenza and adenovirus [ 39 , 40 ] and, more recently, with SARS-CoV-2 [ 41 , 42 ], as well as with the hot, humid, and rainy climates of the summer season in tropical countries [ 36 , 37 , 43 , 44 ].…”