Incidence, Characteristics and Economic Burden of Rotavirus Gastroenteritis in Brasov, Central Romania between 2011 and 2019

Background: Limited data exist on epidemiology and economic burden of Rotavirus Gastroenteritis in Romania. Rotavirus vaccination coverage is low.

Objective: The study evaluates the incidence and a number of demographic, clinical and economical characteristics of children with rotavirus gastroenteritis that had been hospitalized or had been attending ER at Children`s Clinical Hospital Brasov in Romania between 2011-2019.

Methods: The study is an observational, descriptive, retrospective study that enrolled a number of 2404 children from Children`s Clinical Hospital Brasov. All children had a positive rotavirus result in stool specimen detected by immunochromatography. The study was done between January 2011 and December 2019. All data involved were studied evaluating the patients’ files from the hospital’s archive.

Results: Incidence is 82.1%. 46% were girls,54% boys. 97% of children were under 5 years old. The group associates children that have been presenting to ER and after discharged and children that have been hospitalized (74.45%) for a medium of 4 days. 17% were nosocomial infections. The major ethnic group-Caucasians 60.8%. Regarding seasonality- predominent between January-March and October-December. The average days to ER presentation since the symptoms started was 3.2 days. 13% of children have already started an antibiotic at home. Clinical aspects:78.7% had loose stools, 68.5% vomiting and 35.6% associated fever above 38.5C. One child has been previously vaccinated; one has died. Daily medium hospitalization cost-around 293-499 euro. Indirect costs-around 35 euro/day work for a parent to take care of the child.

Conclusion: The incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis is high. The characteristics of rotavirus gastroenteritis regarding the age group predominance, the typical symptoms and seasonality are found in our study. Other characteristics related to ethnic group, nosocomial infection associated with longer hospitalization and a great economic burden of a preventable disease are as well seen in our study.