ROTAVIRUS
VACCINES FOR PREVENTING DIARRHEA IN CHILDREN (A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW)
Pitan O.C.
Institute of Child Health,
London, United Kingdom
Objective: To assess the clinical efficacy of Rotavirus
vaccines (RV) in preventing diarrhea due to Rotavirus in children up to 5
years of age
Methods:
1.
Development of a search strategy aimed at identifying
relevant randomized controlled trials from electronic databases
2.
Identification of relevant randomized controlled trials
from other sources, including grey literature
3.
Evaluation of the methodological quality of the studies
retrieved using the Jadad validity score
4.
Extraction of the relevant data followed by analysis
Results: Twenty-six randomized controlled trials carried out in
various parts of the world, involving 16,016 children were included in the
analyses. The combined estimate of efficacy in preventing episodes of
Rotavirus diarrhea was 53%, 95% CI 49 to 57%. The protective effect of
Rotavirus vaccines was more marked for severe Rotavirus diarrhea (combined estimate
of efficacy 71%, 95% CI 65 to 75%). When efficacy estimates were stratified
by type of vaccine and site of trial, tetravalent vaccines had the highest
combined estimate of efficacy (64%, 95% CI 59 to 63% for developed
countries; 45%, 95% CI 31 to 56% for developing countries).
Conclusion: RV vaccines are efficacious in providing protection
against Rotavirus diarrhea. The tetravalent vaccines provide greater
protection than the monovalent vaccines. The RV afford more protection in
developed countries in comparison to developing countries.