Respiratory Syncytial Virus-attributable Deaths in a Major Pediatric Hospital in New South Wales, Australia, 1998-2018

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infection and an important contributor to child mortality. In this study, we estimated the frequency and described the clinical features of RSV-attributable deaths in Australian children.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study of RSV-associated deaths in hospitalized children <16 years of age over a 21-year period (1998-2018) in a pediatric tertiary/quaternary referral hospital in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. RSV-associated deaths were identified, reviewed, and classified according to RSV contribution to death. For 'RSV-attributable' deaths, we estimated frequency, case fatality ratio (CFR), and population death rate. We described demographic and clinical features of cases.

Results: There were 20 RSV-attributable deaths. RSV was considered the primary cause of death for five cases and a contributory cause for 15 cases. The CFR among hospitalized cases was 0.2% (20/9779). The annual death rate was 0.6 per 10,000 hospitalized children. The population death rate was 1.2 (95% confidence interval 0.5-2.7) per million children <16 years of age in NSW. The median age at death was 28.7 months (interquartile range 8.8-75.0). All children had at least one medical comorbidity. Over half the deaths occurred in children ≥2 years of age (11, 55%). RSV healthcare-associated infection (RSV-HAI) was common (11, 55%).

Conclusions: RSV-attributable death is infrequent in this setting. Deaths occurred exclusively in children with medical comorbidity and a high proportion were RSV-HAI. Children with medical comorbidity, including those ≥2 years of age, should be prioritized for targeted prevention of RSV disease.