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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1412620
This article is part of the Research Topic Women in Science: Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention 2023 View all 22 articles
A POPULATION DATABASE ANALYSIS TO DESCRIBE THE RESIDUAL BURDEN OF VARICELLA IN ITALY, A HIGH VACCINATION COVERAGE AREA, FROM 2004 TO 2022
Provisionally accepted
Elisa Barbieri 1*
Silvia Cocchio 2
Patrizia Furlan 2 Antonio Scamarcia 3 Luigi Cantarutti 3
Carlo Giaquinto 1
Vincenzo Baldo 2- 1 Division of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Department for Women’s and Children’s Health, University of Padua, Padua, Veneto, Italy
- 2 Department of Cardiac Thoracic and Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- 3 Società Servizi Telematici – Pedianet, Padua, Veneto, Italy
In Italy, universal varicella vaccination (VV) started in 2017 with a two-dose schedule at 12-15 months and 5-6 years of age achieving 90% coverage in 2019, with regional variations.The study aimed to evaluate the burden of varicella disease in the pediatric population using a primary-care database.This cohort study used data from Pedianet, a comprehensive database of 193 family paediatricians in Italy. Incidence rates (IR) of varicella (ICD-9-CM code 052, 052.0-52.9) were evaluated in children <15 years of age, between January 2004 to April 2022 by calendar year and region.Subjects were followed up from 2004, or the enrollment date, until the end of assistance or the study period. Comorbidities and complications were identified.253,221 children <15 years of age (total follow-up 1,430,249 years) were included in the study.35,614 varicella index cases were retrieved in 35,199 subjects (13.9%) with 1.2% experiencing two infections.Complications following varicella occurred in 467 children (1.3%), primarily involving the skin and soft tissue (46.3%) and the respiratory tract (22.3%).The IR in regions that implemented the VV program before 2017 ranged from 38.3 in 2007 to 0.8 per 1,000person-years in 2022, while in those that implemented the VV in 2017, the IR decreased from 49.8 in 2017 to 3.2 per 1,000person-years in 2022. In the Veneto Region, following the VV implementation in 2006, the IR significantly decreased by 20.5 annually (95%CI: -23.4;-17.5), ranging from 50.2 in 2006 to 1.2 per 1,000person-years in 2022.The implementation of VV drastically reduced the IR of varicella, further confirming the importance of universal VV coverage.
Keywords: Varicella (chickenpox), Children, Italy, Epidemiology, Disease complications
Received: 05 Apr 2024; Accepted: 17 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Barbieri, Cocchio, Furlan, Scamarcia, Cantarutti, Giaquinto and Baldo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Elisa Barbieri, Division of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Department for Women’s and Children’s Health, University of Padua, Padua, Veneto, Italy
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