Update to: Study Pre-protocol for "BronchStart - The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Timing, Age and Severity of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Emergency Presentations; a Multi-Centre Prospective Observational Cohort Study"

Thomas C Williams; Steve Cunningham; Simon B Drysdale; Helen Groves; Dalia Iskander; Xinxue Liu; Mark D Lyttle; Robin Marlow; Abigail Maxwell-Hodkinson; Chengetai D Mpamhanga; Shaun O'Hagan; Ian Sinha; Olivia V Swann; Thomas Waterfield; Damian Roland; Paediatric Emergency Research in the UK and Ireland (PERUKI)

doi:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16778.3

Update to: Study Pre-protocol for "BronchStart - The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Timing, Age and Severity of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Emergency Presentations; a Multi-Centre Prospective Observational Cohort Study"

Wellcome Open Res. 2024 Oct 11:6:120. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16778.3. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Thomas C Williams¹, Steve Cunningham^{2

3}, Simon B Drysdale^{4

5}, Helen Groves⁶, Dalia Iskander⁷, Xinxue Liu⁴, Mark D Lyttle^{8

9}, Robin Marlow^{9

10}, Abigail Maxwell-Hodkinson¹¹, Chengetai D Mpamhanga¹², Shaun O'Hagan⁶, Ian Sinha^{13

14}, Olivia V Swann^{12

15}, Thomas Waterfield⁶, Damian Roland^{16

17}; Paediatric Emergency Research in the UK and Ireland (PERUKI)

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
² Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
³ Department of Paediatric Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh, UK.
⁴ Oxford Vaccine Group, Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁵ NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, UK.
⁶ Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
⁷ Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK.
⁸ Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
⁹ Emergency Department, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol, UK.
¹⁰ Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol, UK.
¹¹ University of Liverpool Medical School, Liverpool, UK.
¹² Department of Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
¹³ University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
¹⁴ Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, UK.
¹⁵ Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, UK.
¹⁶ Paediatric Emergency Medicine Leicester Academic (PEMLA) Group, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, UK.
¹⁷ Sapphire Group, Health Sciences, Leicester University, University of Leicester, UK.

Abstract

Background: In 2021 we launched the BronchStart study, which collected information on 17,899 presentations in children with serious respiratory tract infections following the release of lockdown restrictions. Our study informed the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's decision to recommend the introduction maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination, which was introduced in the United Kingdom in August/September 2024.

Study question: We modified our original protocol to conduct a United Kingdom-wide assessment of maternal vaccination against RSV.

Methods and likely impact: We will conduct a multi-centre study, utilising the PERUKI network used in the original BronchStart study, to assess the effectiveness of maternal vaccination using a test-negative study design. We will gather detailed clinical information on children admitted with bronchiolitis in the post-RSV vaccination era, and understand possible reasons for incomplete vaccine uptake.

Keywords: Bronchiolitis; COVID-19; Children; Infants; Palivizumab; Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust [204802; to TCW].