Impact of oral human rotavirus vaccine on hospitalization rates for children Impacto da vacina oral de rotavírus humano nas taxas de hospitalizações em crianças

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/19820194201500041 Universidade Estadual de Maringá, PR, Brasil. Conflicts of interest: none to declare. Abstract Objective: To evaluate the risk of hospitalization for acute diarrhea in children under five,in the period of ten years before and after the oral rotavirus vaccine. Methods: Eco-descriptive-analyticstudy of the rates of hospitalization for acute diarrhea. We used hospitalization rate and the Relative Variation Rate to quantify the difference between the median in the years preandpostvaccination. We used logistic regression, odds ratio and attributablerisk to assess for the proportion of cases that could be avoided if exposure was avoided. Results: During the study period, the hospitalization rate was 117.41 per 10,000 children. In the prevaccination period, the median rate of hospitalization was 124.2/10,000 children. After the introduction of the vaccine, hospitalization rates were lower when compared to the median of the pre-vaccination years. Conclusion: There was a reduction in the hospitalization rates for acute diarrhea, thereby suggesting that the use of the vaccine and other associated factors can reduce the number of cases.