News: High risk of hospitalization among RSV patients in outpatient setting, study suggests

A new study suggests that one in 20 adults experience hospitalization within 28 days of being diagnosed with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), according to MedPage Today.

The study, published in JAMA Open Network, examined a cohort of 67,239 patients infected with RSV in the outpatient setting from 2016 to 2022. The cohort study data was culled from three different de-identified databases (Optum’s deidentified Integrated Claims-Clinical dataset, TriNetX Linked, and Veradigm Network EHR database linked with claims).

Cameron Wolfe, MBBS, of Duke University Medical Center, explained to MedPage Today that the study's results "confirm what we've been worried about for a while, which is that similar to flu, and more recently COVID, we see a lot of older adults, and those at risk ultimately require hospitalization after RSV."

According to the article, additional high-risk factors of RSV hospitalization included: being age 65 and older, or having asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and congestive heart failure (CHF). Additionally, across the databases examined, the comorbidity prevalence for those infected with RSV was 20% to 30.5% for COPD, 14.6% to 24.4% for CHF, 14.6% to 24.4% for asthma, and 14% to 54.5% for age 65 and over.

Joshua T. Swan, PharmD, MPH, and one of the lead authors similarly told MedPage Today that "the absolute risk of hospitalization of one out of 20 patients observed in our study represents significant and meaningful risk for vulnerable adults."

Editor’s note: To read the MedPage Today coverage, click here. To read the JAMA Open Network article, click here.