Revaccination with measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and hospitalization for infection in Denmark and Sweden – An interrupted time-series analysis

• Background: In a previous cohort study of 4-year-old Danish children, revaccination with the live measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) was associated with a 16% reduction in the rate of hospitalization lasting two days or longer for non-measles-mumps-rubella infections. Aim: To examine if the introduction of revaccination with MMR at 4 years of age in Denmark (spring 2008) and at 7–9 years of age in Sweden (autumn 2009), at a time when there was virtually no measles, mumps or rubella cases, was associated with a reduction in the rate of hospitalization-for-infection lasting two days or longer at the population level. Methods: We included 4-year-olds in Denmark and 7–9-year-olds in Sweden. We obtained the number of hospitalization-for-infection lasting two days or longer from nationwide hospital registers. Person-years at risk were approximated from population statistics for each season and year. We performed an interrupted time series analysis using Poisson regression to estimate the change in hospitalization incidence rates following the introduction of MMR revaccination, adjusting for seasonality. We also performed analyses with control series (3-year-olds in Denmark and 4-year-olds in Sweden). Results: Comparing the incidence of hospitalization-for-infection lasting two days or longer after the introduction of MMR revaccination with the expected level without an introduction of MMR revaccination resulted in an incidence rate ratio of 1.07 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.89–1.28) for 4-year-olds in Denmark and 0.89 (95% CI = 0.77–1.02) for 7–9-year-olds in Sweden in analyses without controls. Analyses with controls gave similar results. Conclusion: This population-level study of the introduction of MMR revaccination in Denmark and Sweden had inadequate power to confirm or refute the findings from an individual-level Danish study of an association between MMR revaccination and a lower incidence rate of hospitalization-for-infection lasting two days or longer.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Heterologous immunity

Hospitalization

Interrupted time-series analysis

Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine

Non-specific effects of vaccines

Vaccination programme

Publikations- och innehållstyp

art (ämneskategori)

ref (ämneskategori)