New research reveals that even healthy infants under six months are at high risk from RSV, driving up hospital costs and highlighting the need for targeted prevention.
Infants younger than six months bear the brunt of hospitalizations and associated costs from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Canada, according to new research that underscores the cost savings of protecting this vulnerable age group from serious lung infections.
The study out of the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, published in Lancet Regional Health - Americas, looked at more than 29,000 hospitalizations across Canada between 2017 and 2023. Researchers found that babies under six months made up almost 45 per cent of RSV-related hospital admissions and accounted for almost half the estimated $66-million average annual cost of RSV hospitalizations.
“This virus hits our youngest children the hardest,” said Dr. Nirma Khatri Vadlamudi, who led the study during her postdoctoral research at UBC’s faculty of medicine. “Even though RSV affects kids of all ages, the health and financial burden is most severe in infant cases.”
Dr. Vadlamudi is no longer a postdoc at UBC, but we congratulate her efforts and research. To read the rest of the article, visit UBC News website.