HomeCurrent Print IssueRSV hospital admissions for children more than doubled in 2022/23

RSV hospital admissions for children more than doubled in 2022/23

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Kristie Jones

Pediatric hospital admissions for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) more than doubled in 2022/23 in Canada compared to the prepandemic period, found new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Respiratory syncytial virus is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children, with 77% to 88% of pediatric hospital admissions occurring in otherwise healthy children, and the risk is especially high in infants in the months after birth.

Using data from 13 hospitals across Canada in the Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program, Active (IMPACT), researchers compared hospitalizations for laboratory-confirmed cases of RSV in infants and children aged 0 to 16 years admitted to hospital in 2022/23 with 3 prepandemic seasons (2017/18 to 2019/20). In 2022/23, there were 5362 RSV-related admissions, including almost 1 in 4 (24%) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Admissions related to RSV for all age groups were 2 to 3 times higher than in the prepandemic period. Infants younger than 6 months made up the majority (782, 62%) of ICU admissions.

“[D]espite a slightly older age distribution in 2022/23, the greatest RSV burden in children in Canada remained in infants younger than 6 months, with this age group accounting for more than 40% and 60% of RSV hospital admissions and ICU admissions, respectively,” writes Dr. Jesse Papenburg, Montreal Children’s Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montréal, Quebec, with coauthors.

The researchers also found increases in the proportion of RSV hospitalizations in children aged 2 to 4 and 5 to 9 years compared with previous periods.

The increases in case numbers are thought to be because of the impact of the pandemic, which disrupted usual patterns of community transmission.

“This delayed exposure to respiratory viruses, including RSV, resulted in the accumulation of susceptible individuals in the general population and intense community transmission of RSV after lifting of the most stringent nonpharmaceutical interventions,” write the authors. “Many young children thus acquired their first RSV infection only after their second year of life, once RSV transmission was re-established.”

Use of new immunization strategies, such as vaccination against RSV in pregnancy and seasonal RSV long-acting monoclonal antibody immunoprophylaxis in infants, are important to help reduce cases of RSV infection and hospitalization.

“Changes in hospital admissions associated with pediatric respiratory syncytial virus after the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: an active surveillance study” was published April 27, 2026.

 

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