Decline in Severe Varicella Disease During the United States Varicella Vaccination Program: Hospitalizations and Deaths, 1990–2019

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Marin, Mona ; Lopez, Adriana S. ; Melgar, Michael ; Dooling, Kathleen ; Curns, Aaron T. ; Leung, Jessica
• Description:
  To describe the impact of the US varicella vaccination program on severe varicella outcomes, we analyzed varicella hospitalizations using the National Inpatient Sample 1993-2019 and varicella deaths using the National Center for Health Statistics data 1990-2019. Over 25 years of vaccination program (1995-2019), varicella hospitalizations, and deaths declined 94% and 97%, respectively, among persons aged <50 years. Most of the decline (∼90%) occurred during the 1-dose period (through 2006/2007) by attaining and maintaining high vaccination coverage; additional declines occurred during the 2-dose period, especially in the age groups covered by the 2-dose recommendation. The greatest decline for both hospitalizations and deaths (97% and >99%, respectively) was among persons aged <20 years, born during the varicella vaccination program. In the <20 age group, varicella hospitalization has become a rare event, and varicella deaths have been practically eliminated in the United States. A total of >10 500 varicella hospitalizations and 100 varicella deaths are now prevented annually in the United States as a direct result of vaccination and reduction in varicella-zoster virus circulation.
• Keywords:
  Adult Chickenpox Chickenpox Vaccine Death Herpesvirus 3, Human Herpes Zoster Hospitalization Humans Impact Infant Mortality Program United States Vaccination Vaccine Varicella VZV Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  J Infect Dis. 226(Suppl 4):S407-S415
• Pubmed ID:
  36265852
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10406340
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  226
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:88e8f40948675af6bf3385941e5714f48eba5fabc1d4e83224e03e822f19a8b1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/131793/cdc_131793_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 636.69 KB ]