Global Pediatrics · Published 2025-12-26 · DOI 10.1016/j.gpeds.2025.100316
Background: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in children. While global IPD incidence declined during the COVID-19 pandemic due to mitigation measures, a resurgence followed the relaxation of these interventions. Objectives: The primary objective is to describe the epidemiology of IPD at our institution after the introduction of PCV-13 and to compare trends before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A retrospective chart review of IPD patients ≤21 years of age admitted between January 2010 - February 2024 at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit. Patients were further categorized into 2 groups: pre-pandemic (2016-2020) and pandemic/post-pandemic (2020-2024). Results: 143 cases were included. IPD incidence decreased during the pandemic (2020-2021) to 0.6-0.8 per 1000 hospital admissions but rebounded in 2022-2023 to 1.7-1.4 per 1,000 hospital admissions. Of 143 patients 99/143(69 %) had no known risk factor and 12/143 (8.3 %) had sickle cell disease. 73 % (90/143) were fully immunized. Pneumococcal antibodies were tested in 37 patients and 20/37(54 %) had low titers; 16/20 (80 %) were fully immunized. No statistically significant differences were observed between the two periods regarding age, gender, clinical presentation or clinical outcome (p = >0.05). However, the proportion of unimmunized children was significantly higher in the post-pandemic period (n = 8/43, 20.5 %) compared to pre-pandemic period (n = 2/49, 4.8 %; p = 0.03). Conclusions: IPD incidence increased during the two years post COVID-19 pandemic, potentially due to decreased vaccination. Recognizing these epidemiological shifts and addressing vaccination gaps with use of updated vaccine are critical in preventing future IPD outbreaks.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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