Burden and Cost of Hospitalization for Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Young Children, Singapore

• Main Authors: Clarence C. Tam, Kee Thai Yeo, Nancy Tee, Raymond Lin, Tze Minn Mak, Koh Cheng Thoon, Mark Jit, Chee Fu Yung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2020-07-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: respiratory syncytial virus; respiratory infections; lower respiratory tract infection; pneumonia; bronchiolitis; disease burden
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/19-0539_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of pediatric acute lower respiratory tract infection worldwide. Detailed data on the health and economic burden of RSV disease are lacking from tropical settings with year-round RSV transmission. We developed a statistical and economic model to estimate the annual incidence and healthcare cost of medically attended RSV disease among young children in Singapore, using Monte Carlo simulation to account for uncertainty in model parameters. RSV accounted for 708 hospitalizations in children <6 months of age (33.5/1,000 child-years) and 1,096 in children 6–29 months of age (13.2/1,000 child-years). The cost of hospitalization was SGD 5.7 million (US $4.3 million) at 2014 prices; patients bore 60% of the cost. RSV-associated disease burden in tropical settings in Asia is high and comparable to other settings. Further work incorporating efficacy data from ongoing vaccine trials will help to determine the potential cost-effectiveness of different vaccination strategies.