RSV Crisis Escalates: 30% Rise in Fatalities and Hospitalizations 

United States: Experts recently analyzed RSV cases from the 2016-2017 peak season through the 2022-2023 season, finding that between 123,000 and 193,000 adults in the US were hospitalized annually due to the virus. 

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The study, which was done in JAMA Network Open, used data from the RSV Hospitalization Surveillance Network. 

The survey was based on data collected from 58 counties in 12 states, which constituted 8 percent of the total population of the US. 

The analysis projected the overall hospitalization figures based on data indicating that 16,575 hospitalizations were in the surveillance network’s catchment area, the Washinton Post reported. 

The authors relied on data for more than seven seasons with the RSV-associated hospitalization criteria as a positive test result within 2 weeks prior to admission or at admission to the hospital. 

The team also compared the rates for hospitalization each year, in-hospital death, and patient outcomes of different age groups. 

Findings of the analysis 

From 2015-2016 up to the 2019-2020 season, excluding the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons due to COVID-19 impact on RSV season, the trend from 48.9 per 100,000 adults in 2016 to 2017 up to 76.2 in 2017 to 2018 then reducing to 2022 to 2023. 

Furthermore, hospitalization due to RSV was higher among adults 75 years of age and older. Based on the estimates, calculated in-hospital deaths per fiscal year varied between nearly 4,700 in the period between 2018-2019 and a little over 8,620 in 2017-2018. 

The research also states that vaccines do have the power to lower hospitalization rates. 

As the team of researchers wrote, “Findings of this study suggest that before the 2023 introduction of RSV vaccines, RSV was associated with a substantial burden of hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, and in-hospital deaths in adults, particularly those 75 years or older,” the Washinton Post reported. 

“Increasing RSV vaccination of older adults has the potential to reduce associated hospitalizations and severe clinical outcomes,” they added.