Research Article Respiratory-Related Hospitalizations following Prophylaxis in the Canadian Registry for Palivizumab (2005–2012) Compared to Other International Registries

Copyright © 2013 Bosco Paes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection occurs commonly in infants aged≤2 years, and severe infection results in hospitalization with accompanying morbidity and mortality. Palivizumab has been available for prophylaxis for the past 15 years. Prospective data on patients who received palivizumab from 2005 to 2012 has been assembled in the Canadian registry (CARESS) to document utilization, compliance, and health outcomes in both hospital and community settings. Long-term data is necessary to evaluate the impact of palivizumab on the incidence of RSV infections, minimize healthcare resources, and identify which infant subpopulations are receiving prophylaxis. A database search was also conducted for similar information from published registries, and hospitalization rates were compared to results from randomized clinical trials (RCTs).Overall hospitalization rates (percent; range) for respiratory-related illnesses andRSV-specific infection in infantswhomeet standard indications for prophylaxis were 6.6 (3.3–7.7) and 1.55 (0.3–2.06), respectively, in CARESS, which closely aligns with registry data from 4 other countries, despite the former comprising the largest cohort of complex patients internationally. Overall RSV-related hospitalization rates wer