Lost workdays and healthcare use before and after hospital visits due to rotavirus and other gastroenteritis among young children in Norway

Abstract

Background: Cost-effectiveness of rotavirus vaccination is affected by assumptions used in health economic evaluations. To inform such evaluations, we assessed healthcare use before and after hospitalisations due to rotavirus and other acute gastroenteritis (AGE) among children <5years of age in Norway and estimated daycare and work absenteeism.

Methods: We conducted post-discharge interviews with caregivers of 282 children hospitalised with AGE at two hospitals in Norway during April 2014-February 2017. We collected data on healthcare use and absenteeism from daycare and work. We examined healthcare seeking and absenteeism patterns for RV-specific and other gastroenteritis.

Results: Caregivers of 485 (37%) of 1 298 hospitalised children were invited to participate, and 282 (58%) completed the questionnaire. Among these, 106 (38%) were rotavirus-positive, 119 (42%) were rotavirus-negative, and for 57 (20%) children no rotavirus testing was performed. Overall, 97% of children had been in contact with a healthcare provider before hospital admission and 28% had contacted a healthcare provider after discharge. Children that attended daycare were absent from daycare for a mean of 6.3days (median 5days). Caregivers of these children reported work absenteeism in 74% of cases. The mean duration of work absenteeism among caregivers was 5.9days (median 5days) both for RV-positive and RV-negative cases.

Conclusion: In Norway, work absenteeism and healthcare use before and after hospitalisation due to rotavirus and non-rotavirus gastroenteritis are considerable and impose an economic burden on the healthcare system and society.

Keywords: Absenteeism; Cost analysis; Costs; Gastroenteritis; Healthcare; Rotavirus.