Background: Rotavirus vaccine (RV) might reduce the risk of hospitalization due to childhood seizures (CS). We aimed to identify and assess variations in the incidence of hospitalizations for CS among children <5 years of age before and after RV introduction.
Methods: Annual hospitalization rates for any kind of CS, before and after RV introduction in 2007, were calculated using the official surveillance system for hospitalization data.
Results: Our study cohort totaled 6149 children <5 years of age admitted to the hospital between 2003 and 2013 with any kind of CS (780.3* + 779.0* + 333.2* + 345* ICD-9-CM code). The annual hospitalization rates for any kind of CS in children <5 years of age were correlated with RV coverage (r = -0.673; P = 0.033) and rotavirus acute gastroenteritis admission rates (ρ = 0.506; P = 0.001), with decrease rates ranging from 16.2% (95% confidence interval: 8.3-23.5%) in 2007 to 34.0% (27.3-40.1%) in 2010, as compared with the median rate of the pre-vaccination period (2003 to 2006). Similarly, for convulsions (780.3*ICD-9-CM code), the decrease seen in children <5 years of age was significantly correlated with the increase in RV coverage (r = -0.747; P = 0.013) and rotavirus acute gastroenteritis admission rates (ρ = 0.543; P < 0.001), with decrease rates ranging from 18.7% (9.6-26.8%) in 2007 to 42.5% (35.3-48.9%) in 2012. Significant results were also obtained for infants <12 months and infants 1-2 years of age. In the remaining age groups or diagnostic categories analyzed, changes were either not significant or not related to vaccination changes or rotavirus acute gastroenteritis admission rates.
Conclusions: Our results show that rotavirus vaccination may have a significant impact in the decrease in seizure-related hospitalizations in childhood. This additional benefit of rotavirus vaccination seems more marked in the youngest infants.