Department of Respiratory Medicine, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Child Rare Diseases in Infection and Immunity, Chongqing, 400014, China; Pediatric Research Institute, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400014, China.
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400014, China.
Respir Med. 2024 Nov-Dec;234:107828. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2024.107828. Epub 2024 Oct 3.
The aim of the study is to describe the season of RSV prevalence in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This multicenter retrospective study analyzed the epidemiology of pediatric RSV infections and the possible factors contributing to its variations in China from January 1, 2019, to October 31, 2022.
A total of 872,565 children were included. During the pandemic, RSV detection rate increased across various regions, including South China, East China, Central China, and Northeast China. From 2019 to 2021, the detection rates of RSV showed an increasing trend among children aged <1 year, 1-2 years, and 3-5 years, but decreased in 2022. Among those tested positive for RSV, the proportion of children under 1 year old significantly decreased during the pandemic. The spring season of RSV in China in 2020 was shortened, and most regions experienced a summer season of RSV in 2021. This shift led to a year-round RSV outbreak throughout 2021. After April 2022, RSV positive rate significantly decreased, and no clear seasonal pattern was observed.
Our study found that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the seasonal pattern of RSV outbreaks in China, leading to increased RSV positive rate and off-season outbreaks.
本研究旨在描述 COVID-19 大流行期间中国 RSV 流行的季节特征。
本多中心回顾性研究分析了 2019 年 1 月 1 日至 2022 年 10 月 31 日期间中国儿童 RSV 感染的流行病学特征及可能导致其变化的因素。
共纳入 872565 例儿童。大流行期间，中国各地区（华南、华东、华中、东北）的 RSV 检出率均有所增加。2019 年至 2021 年，<1 岁、1-2 岁和 3-5 岁儿童的 RSV 检出率呈上升趋势，但 2022 年有所下降。在 RSV 阳性患儿中，1 岁以下患儿比例在大流行期间显著下降。中国 2020 年 RSV 春季流行季节缩短，2021 年大部分地区出现夏季流行。这一转变导致 2021 年全年 RSV 爆发。2022 年 4 月后，RSV 阳性率显著下降，且无明显季节性模式。
本研究发现，COVID-19 大流行打乱了中国 RSV 爆发的季节性模式，导致 RSV 阳性率增加和非季节性爆发。
