Baseline incidence of intussusception in early childhood before rotavirus vaccine introduction, the Netherlands, January 2008 to December 2012

Intussusception is a rare, potentially life-threatening condition in early childhood. It gained attention due to an unexpected association with the first rotavirus vaccine, RotaShield, which was subsequently withdrawn from the market. Across Europe, broad variations in intussusception incidence rates have been reported. This study provides a first estimate of intussusception incidence in young children in the Netherlands from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012, which could be used for future rotavirus safety monitoring. Our estimates are based on two different sources: electronic medical records from the primary healthcare database (IPCI), as well as administrative data from the Dutch hospital register (LBZ). The results from our study indicate a low rate of intussusception. Overall incidence rate in children < 36 months of age was 21.2 per 100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval (CI): 12.5–34.3) based on primary healthcare data and 22.6 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI: 20.9–24.4) based on hospital administrative data. The estimates suggest the upper and lower bound of the expected number of cases.