Adults over the age of 75 who get respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are more likely to have severe cases requiring hospitalization, according to a new report.
The data on RSV hospitalizations was published Friday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which is produced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Between February 2022 and May 2023, hospitalizations for RSV were less frequent compared to hospitalizations for flu or COVID-19, but the RSV hospitalizations were associated with more severe disease. The data came from 5,784 adults over the age of 60 who were hospitalized at 25 different hospitals in the US for RSV, COVID-19 or flu. Of the people, 5.3% had RSV, 81.8% had COVID-19 and 12.9% had the flu. The median age for people with RSV was 72; it was 74 years old for COVID-19 and 71 for flu.
People who were in the hospital with RSV were more likely than those with COVId-19 or flu to receive standard-flow oxygen, high-flow nasal cannula or noninvasive ventilation, or to be admitted to the intensive care unit at the hospital
The odds of invasive mechanical ventilation or death between individuals who were hospitalized with RSV and those hospitalized with COVID-19 were similar but higher for RSV compared to influenza.
“Clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized with RSV were worse than those among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or influenza,” the authors said. “Because RSV disease is less common than COVID-19 or influenza disease among hospitalized patients, clinicians might be less aware of RSV as a serious respiratory pathogen in older adults.”
The news comes just a few weeks after the CDC announced that RSV vaccines are available for the first time ever. They recommend that most older adults over the age of 60 get the new RSV vaccine.
