A Retrospective Analysis to Estimate the Burden of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease and Non-Invasive Pneumonia in Children <15 Years of Age in the Veneto Region, Italy

Abstract

Despite advances in preventative interventions, invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumonia cause significant morbidity and mortality in children. We studied the annual incidence of pneumococcal-specific and syndromic invasive disease and non-invasive pneumonia, in children <15 years old during the early (2010–2013) and late (2014–2017) 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) periods in Veneto, Italy. In this retrospective observational study, pneumococcal-specific and syndromic invasive disease and non-invasive pneumonia cases were identified from several sources, including the Pedianet database. Interrupted time series analysis and Mann–Kendall tests were conducted to explore trends in incidence rates (IRs). Among 72,570 patients <15 years old between 2010–2017, 88 episodes of pneumococcal-specific and syndromic invasive disease and 3926 episodes of non-invasive pneumonia were reported. Overall IR of pneumococcal-specific and syndromic invasive disease was 0.4/1000 person-years and did not change significantly (p = 0.46) throughout the study. Overall IR of non-invasive pneumonia was 10/1000 person-years and decreased significantly (−0.64, p = 0.026) over the study period. Following PCV13 introduction, the IRs of non-invasive pneumonia in children <15 years old declined significantly, with no significant change in the IRs of pneumococcal-specific and syndromic invasive disease. There is a continuing clinical burden associated with pediatric pneumococcal diseases in Veneto, Italy.