Retrospective hospital based surveillance of intussusception in children in a sentinel paediatric hospital: Benefits and pitfalls for use in post-marketing surveillance of rotavirus vaccines

Abstract

Evaluation of the safety of rotavirus vaccines, particularly with respect to the risk of intussusception, is recommended for countries planning to introduce rotavirus vaccines into the National Immunisation Program. However, as prospective studies are costly, require time to conduct and may be difficult to perform in some settings, retrospective hospital based surveillance at sentinel sites has been suggested as an option for surveillance for intussusception following introduction of rotavirus vaccines. Objective: To assess the value of retrospective hospital based surveillance to describe clinical and epidemiological features of intussusception in children aged <24 months and to investigate..