Pediatric Head and Neck Complications of Streptococcus pneumoniae before and after PCV7 Vaccination

ObjectiveTo discuss pediatric head and neck complications of pneumococcal infections before and after the introduction of the PCV7 vaccine.Study DesignCross-sectional analysis of a national database.Study SettingKids National Inpatient Database.MethodsA retrospective review of the Kids National Inpatient Database yielded 31,738 pediatric reports involving complications of meningitis, mastoiditis, periorbital cellulitis, and Bezold abscesses due to Streptococcus pneumoniae diagnoses. Each report was analyzed for incidence, length of stay, mean hospital cost, and inpatient admittance from the emergency department. Finally, we calculated the expected annual incidence of each complication via variance-weighted analysis to determine the expected incidence if the vaccine was not administered.ResultsWe identified a significant decrease in the incidence of several complications after the introduction of the PCV7 vaccine and also when comparing these findings to our predicted incidence calculations if the vaccine ...