Even healthy, full‐term babies are at significant risk of intensive care or prolonged hospitalisation from serious RSV infections
NEW DELHI — Even healthy, full‐term babies are at significant risk of intensive care or prolonged hospitalisation from serious respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections -- especially during the first three months of life, according to a study.
RSV is a common cause of respiratory infections in young children. Each year, RSV causes an estimated 3.6 million RSV-associated hospitalisations and approximately 100,000 RSV-attributable deaths in children under the age of five.
It is well-known that premature babies and children with chronic diseases are at increased risk of developing severe illness when infected with RSV. But it has not been entirely clear how common severe disease is among previously healthy children.
Researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden analysed data from over 2.3 million children born in Sweden between 2001 and 2022 to find out who is at greatest risk of suffering serious complications or dying from an RSV infection.
The findings, published in The Lancet Regional Health-Europe, showed that the largest group among the children who needed intensive care or were hospitalised for a long period of time were under three months of age, previously healthy, and born at full term.
"When shaping treatment strategies, it is important to take into account that even healthy infants can be severely affected by RSV," said Giulia Dallagiacoma, a physician and doctoral student at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet.
A total of 1.7 per cent of the children in the study were diagnosed with RSV infection. Among those, just under 12 per cent (4,621 children) had a severe course of illness.
The researchers also identified several factors that were linked to an increased risk of needing intensive care or dying.
Children who were born in the winter, or had siblings aged 0-3 years or a twin, had approximately a threefold increased risk, while children who were small at birth had an almost fourfold increased risk.
Children with underlying medical conditions had more than a fourfold increased risk of severe illness or death.
"The good news is that there is now preventive treatment that can be given to newborns, and a vaccine that can be given to pregnant women," Dallagiacoma added.