Association Between Rotavirus Vaccination and Antibiotic Prescribing Among Commercially Insured US Children, 2007-2018

Background: Vaccines may play a role in controlling the spread of antibiotic resistance. However, it is unknown if rotavirus vaccination affects antibiotic use in the United States (US).

Methods: Using data from the IBM MarketScan Commercial Database, we conducted a retrospective cohort of US children born between 2007 and 2018 who were continuously enrolled for the first 8 months of life (N = 2 136 136). We followed children through 5 years of age and compared children who completed a full rotavirus vaccination series by 8 months of age to children who had not received any doses of rotavirus vaccination. We evaluated antibiotic prescriptions associated with an acute gastroenteritis (AGE) diagnosis and defined the switching of antibiotics as the prescription of a second, different antibiotic within 28 days. Using a stratified Kaplan-Meier approach, we estimated the cumulative incidence for each study group, adjusted for receipt of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, provider type, and urban/rural status.

Results: Overall, 0.8% (n = 17 318) of participants received an antibiotic prescription following an AGE diagnosis. The 5-year adjusted relative cumulative incidence of antibiotic prescription following an AGE diagnosis was 0.793 (95% confidence interval [CI], .761-.827) among children with complete rotavirus vaccination compared to children without rotavirus vaccination. Additionally, children with complete vaccination were less likely to switch antibiotics (0.808 [95% CI, .743-.887]). Rotavirus vaccination has averted an estimated 67 045 (95% CI, 53 729-80 664) antibiotic prescriptions nationally among children born between 2007 and 2018.

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that rotavirus vaccines reduce antibiotic prescribing for AGE, which could help reduce the growth of antibiotic resistance.