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Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Severity of Hospitalizations From SARS-CoV-2 vs Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Children Aged 5 to 11 Years in 11 US States

Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

1 Credit CME

JAMA Pediatrics

Published Online: February 21, 2022

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

William Encinosa, PhD¹;

Jessica Figueroa, MS²;

Youssef Elias, MD, PhD³

Author Affiliations

¹Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, Maryland
²The Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, Baltimore, Maryland
³Department of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Carle Foundation Hospital, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Urbana-Champaign

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In October 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) COVID-19 vaccine to be used in children aged 5 to 11 years to reduce costly hospitalizations. By that time, for children in this age group, there had been 1.8 million people diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 143 deaths, with more than 8000 hospitalizations.¹ However, very little is known about the severity of these hospitalizations relative to the 2 most common childhood viruses, the influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which resemble the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In this study, we compared the January through March 2021 hospitalizations of children aged 5 to 11 years who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C; a sequela of COVID-19 disease)² with those hospitalizations of children aged 5 to 11 years infected with influenza and RSV.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: December 15, 2021.

Published Online: February 21, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.6566

Corresponding Author: William Encinosa, PhD, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 5600 Fishers Ln, Rockville, MD 20857 (william.encinosa@ahrq.hhs.gov).

Author Contributions: Dr Encinosa had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Encinosa, Elias.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Encinosa, Figueroa.

Drafting of the manuscript: All authors.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Encinosa, Figueroa.

Statistical analysis: Encinosa.

Obtained funding: Encinosa.

Administrative, technical, or material support: All authors.

Supervision: Encinosa.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Ms Figueroa reported receiving personal fees from Navitas Clinical Research Inc, Technical Resources International Inc, The Johns Hopkins University, and Georgetown University Medical Center outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: This work was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors, and no official endorsement by the US Department of Health and Human Services and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is intended or should be inferred.

Additional Contributions: We thank Kyung Moon, PhD, of the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, for her invaluable advice and insight into the COVID-19 pandemic. She did not receive financial compensation for her contribution. We thank the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Partner organizations for contributing data to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases used in this study. A full list of Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Data Partners can be found at https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/hcupdatapartners.jsp. The data partners received no financial compensation for their contribution.

References

US Food and Drug Administration. Vaccines and related biological products advisory committee October 26, 2021, meeting document. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://www.fda.gov/media/153409/download

Belay ED , Abrams J , Oster ME , et al. Trends in geographic and temporal distribution of US children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Pediatr. 2021;175(8):837-845. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0630 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Overview of the State Inpatient Databases (SID). Accessed November 1, 2021. https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/sidoverview.jsp

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease burden of flu. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html

Elagami MM , Ghrewati M , Khaddash I , Melki G . An unusual presentation of influenza-induced myositis. Cureus. 2021;13(2):e13196.doi:10.7759/cureus.13196 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.