Impact of the pneumococcal 10-valent vaccine on reducing hospitalization for community-acquired pneumonia in children.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and analyze the occurrence of hospitalizations for community-acquired pneumonia in children before and after the pneumococcal 10-valent conjugate vaccine implementation into the National Immunization Program.


METHODS
This is an ecological study that includes records of children younger than one year old, vaccinated and not vaccinated with the pneumococcal 10-valent conjugate vaccine in the periods pre- and post-inclusion of the vaccine in the National Immunization Program in the area covered by the Regional Health Superintendence of Alfenas, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Vaccination was considered as the exposure factor and hospitalization for community-acquired pneumonia as the endpoint, using secondary annual data by municipality. The prevalence ratio and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were used to verify the association between variables. The Z test was used to calculate the difference between proportions.


RESULTS
Considering the 26 municipalities of the Regional Health Superintendence of Alfenas, there was a significant reduction in hospitalizations for community-acquired pneumonia in children younger than one year of age, with prevalence ratio (PR)=0.81 (95%CI: 0.74 to 0.89; p<0.05), indicating a 19% lower prevalence of hospitalization for community-acquired pneumonia in the post-vaccination period.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest the effectiveness of the pneumococcal 10-valent conjugate vaccine in preventing severe cases of community-acquired pneumonia in children younger than one year of age.
Superintendência Regional de Saúde de Alfenas, Alfenas, MG, Brasil.
Sandra Rodrigues da
SR
Silva
Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (FMRP-USP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
Luane Marques de
LM
Mello
Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (FMRP-USP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
Anderson Soares da
AS
Silva
Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (FMRP-USP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil. Electronic address: altacilio@fmrp.usp.br.
Altacílio Aparecido
AA
Nunes
D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy*; D015995:Prevalence; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate
C538863:10-valent pneumococcal vaccine; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate
Child; Criança; Hospitalization; Hospitalização; Immunization; Imunização; Pneumococcal vaccine; Pneumonia; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Vacina pneumocócica