Impact of nirsevimab immunoprophylaxis on respiratory syncytial virus-related outcomes in hospital and primary care after two consecutive seasons: a population-based retrospective cohort study in infants in their second year of life in Catalonia, Spain

Abstract

To analyse the effect of nirsevimab immunoprophylaxis on RSV-associated outcomes after two consecutive epidemic seasons in infants born and Living in Catalonia, Spain. We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study including all infants born in Catalonia between April 2023 and March 2024. We established two cohorts (immunised with nirsevimab and non-immunised). We estimated adjusted cumulative incidences (CInc) curves for RSV-associated hospital admissions, paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admissions, emergency department (ED) visits for bronchiolitis, and RSV infections and bronchiolitis registered in primary care from October 2023 to mid-February 2025 using inverse probability-weighted Kaplan–Meier methods. Marginal risk differences and risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated at the end of the first RSV season (January 15, 2024), beginning of the second season (October 1, 2024), and end of the second season (February 16, 2025). As a secondary analysis, we estimated adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) during the second RSV season (October 2024 to mid-February 2025) using Cox proportional hazard models. Among 51,154 infants, 45,971 (89.9%) were immunised with nirsevimab just before or during their first RSV season. After two RSV seasons, the CInc of severe outcomes remained substantially lower in the immunised group. By the end of the study period, the CInc of hospital admissions was 9.57 per 1,000 infants (95%CI: 7.92–11.20) in the immunised group and 35.56 per 1,000 (95%CI: 25.69–47.58) in the control group (RR: 0.27, 95%CI: 0.20–0.40); and for PICU admissions, 1.90 vs. 9.08 per 1,000 (RR: 0.21, 95%CI: 0.11–0.48). Primary care infection rates were also lower in the immunised group (13.78 vs. 16.96 per 1,000), although the difference was not statistically significant (RR: 0.81, 95%CI: 0.57–1.29). No statistically significant differences were observed in aHR across any outcomes during the second season.

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