No increased risk of intussusception after pentavalent rotavirus vaccination in China: a retrospective birth cohort using electronic health records of Ningbo city

Some post-licensure studies have shown a potential increased risk of intussusception following vaccination with rotavirus vaccines. This is the first study that aimed to assess the incidence and risk of intussusception within 90 days after vaccination with RotaTeq in Chinese infants. A population-based birth cohort from 27th November 2018 to 30th June 2021 included all newborns in Ningbo city. The records of intussusception were identified through the ICD-10 code K56.1 or Chinese keywords “Chang Tao” from all hospital discharge records. Each episode was confirmed in line with the Brighton criteria, and only Brighton level 1 cases were included. The association of RotaTeq vaccination and intussusception was evaluated using the Poisson regression. A total of 108,405 eligible subjects from birth cohort were eligible, with 52.30% males. Among them, 26, 847 (24.77%) infants received at least one dose of RotaTeq, and 95.52% of them were fully vaccinated, with 76, 934 doses in total. After adjudication, none of the cases occurred post first, or second dose, the cumulative number of cases that occurred 1–7, 1–14, 1–21, 1–42, and 1–90 days post third dose was 0, 1, 1, 3, and 7, respectively. Adjusting for age, sex, birth year, birth season and location, the incidence rate ratio of intussusception after RotaTeq vaccination was 0.90 (90% two-sided CI: 0.46, 1.75). Increasing age and male gender were associated with higher risk of intussusception. In summary, no increased risk of IS was observed following 3 months of RotaTeq vaccination in this study.