Summaries of Must-Read Clinical Literature, Guidelines, and FDA Actions
Despite PCV, Pediatric Asthma Patients Face Pneumococcal Risks
Key clinical point: Pneumococcal vaccines may deliver lower levels of protection in children with asthma.
Major finding: Pneumococcal valent 7, 10, or 13 vaccines didn’t prevent all invasive pneumococcal disease in pediatric asthma patients.
Study details: The meta-analysis relied on more than 28 million person-years of data in four studies.
Disclosures: The authors had no relevant financial disclosures.
Citation:
Castro-Rodriguez J et al. Pediatrics. 2020 Jan. doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-1200.
The meta-analysis contains some important lessons for pediatricians, Tina Q. Tan, MD, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
“First, asthma remains a risk factor for invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumococcal pneumonia, even in the era of widespread use of PCV,” Dr. Tan noted. “Second, it is important that all patients, especially those with asthma, are receiving their vaccinations on time and, most notably, are up to date on their pneumococcal vaccinations. This will provide the best protection against pneumococcal infections and their complications for pediatric patients with asthma.”
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) have impressively decreased rates of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and pneumonia in children in the United States, Dr. Tan explained. Overall, incidence dropped from 95 cases per 100,000 person-years in 1998 to only 9 cases per 100,000 in 2016.
In addition, the incidence of IPD caused by 13-valent PCV serotypes fell, from 88 cases per 100,000 in 1998 to 2 cases per 100,000 in 2016.
The threat is not over, however.
“IPD still remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide,” Dr. Tan cautioned. “In 2017, the CDC’s Active Bacterial Core surveillance network reported that there were 31,000 cases of IPD (meningitis, bacteremia, and bacteremic pneumonia) and 3,590 deaths, of which 147 cases and 9 deaths occurred in children younger than 5 years of age.”
Dr. Tan is a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University, Chicago. Her comments appear in Pediatrics 2020 Jan. doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-3360 .