Observational studyThe Lancet. Respiratory medicine2023
The burden of respiratory syncytial virus in healthy term-born infants in Europe: a prospective birth cohort study.
Observational study in The Lancet. Respiratory medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03627572 (REspiratory Syncytial Virus Consortium in EUrope), which is not on this map. Cited by 135 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
REspiratory Syncytial Virus Consortium in EUrope (RESCEU) Study: Defining the Burden of Disease of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Europe.
Who cites it
135 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 210 citations in OpenAlex.
- Burden of RSV in Young Children in High-Income Countries: Incidence Estimates From a Multilevel Meta-Analysis in Primary and Emergency Care.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Disease Burden of RSV Infections and Bronchiolitis in Young Children (< 5 Years) in Primary Care and Emergency Departments: A Systematic Literature Review.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2024Pooled it
- Safety and Pharmacokinetics of the RSV Fusion Inhibitor Sisunatovir Across Two Early-phase Studies in Infants and Children With RSV Lower Respiratory Tract Infection.The Pediatric infectious disease journal · 2026Trial
- EDP-323, a First-In-Class, Once-Daily, Oral L-Protein Inhibitor for the Treatment of RSV: Results From a Phase 1 Study in Healthy Adults.Clinical and translational science · 2025Trial
- Safety and Immunogenicity of a ChAd155-Vectored Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine in Infants 6-7 Months of age: A Phase 1/2 Randomized Trial.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Trial
- Strategies used to improve immunization coverage of nirsevimab in an autonomous community in Spain.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Rise of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections Other than Respiratory Syncytial Virus in the Emergency Room: Results from the Season (2024/25) of the RISE Study.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of Nirsevimab Reimmunization against Respiratory Syncytial Virus Hospitalization During the Second Season in High-Risk Children.Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society · 2026Article
- High respiratory syncytial virus burden in children under 3 years of age across all care levels in England.BMJ open respiratory research · 2026Observational
- Parental Acceptance of Nirsevimab for RSV Prevention in Infants Across Two Consecutive Seasons in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.Vaccines · 2026Article
- Review
- Higher severity of infant RSV infections is associated with lower parental quality of life - a European observational study.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2026Observational
- Article
- Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Bronchiolitis and the Impact of RSV Infection: A Five-Year Study in a Tertiary Pediatric Center in Central Romania.Pediatric reports · 2026Article
- Acute Severity Versus Long-term Morbidity: Uncoupling the Roles of RSV and HRV in Childhood Respiratory Disease.Open forum infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Clinical presentation and hospitalisation risk of RSV in primary care among children younger than 5 years in Italy in four seasons between 2019 and 2023: a multicentre prospective cohort study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- Epidemiology and subtype analysis of respiratory syncytial virus among hospitalized children under five in Isfahan during early 2024.Iranian journal of microbiology · 2026Article
- Impact of Respiratory Viral Codetections on RSV Disease Burden in Young Children in Primary Care.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2026Article
- Epidemiological trends and seasonality of respiratory syncytial virus infection in children based on sentinel hospital surveillance data.Tropical medicine and health · 2026Article
75 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 11 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of hospitalisation in infants. The burden of RSV infection in healthy term infants has not yet been established. Accurate health-care burden data in healthy infants are necessary to determine RSV immunisation policy when RSV immunisation becomes available.
methodsWe performed a multicentre, prospective, observational birth cohort study in healthy term-born infants (≥37 weeks of gestation) in five sites located in different European countries to determine the health-care burden of RSV. The incidence of RSV-associated hospitalisations in the first year of life was determined by parental questionnaires and hospital chart reviews. We performed active RSV surveillance in a nested cohort to determine the incidence of medically attended RSV infections. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03627572.
findingsIn total, 9154 infants born between July 1, 2017, and April 1, 2020, were followed up during the first year of life and 993 participated in the nested active surveillance cohort. The incidence of RSV-associated hospitalisations in the total cohort was 1·8% (95% CI 1·6-2·1). There were eight paediatric intensive care unit admissions, corresponding to 5·5% of 145 RSV-associated hospitalisations and 0·09% of the total cohort. Incidence of RSV infection in the active surveillance cohort confirmed by any diagnostic assay was 26·2% (24·0-28·6) and that of medically attended RSV infection was 14·1% (12·3-16·0).
interpretationRSV-associated acute respiratory infection causes substantial morbidity, leading to the hospitalisation of one in every 56 healthy term-born infants in high-income settings. Immunisation of pregnant women or healthy term-born infants during their first winter season could have a major effect on the health-care burden caused by RSV infections.
fundingInnovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking, with support from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.