Canadian Rotavirus Surveillance Through the Immunization Monitoring Program Active (IMPACT)

This study has the ability to provide contemporary Canadian data on the two of the most important outcome measures for effectiveness of rotavirus vaccine: hospital admissions and emergency department visits. The extended time period that already exists prior to vaccine implementation (2005 to 2017) will provide longterm baseline data with which to compare disease burden from 2012 to 2022. The major advantages to this study are that surveillance occurs at the same hospitals and the same methodology and CRF has been used since 2005. This will ensure reliability and consistency in the surveillance study. The national data set captures patients from age group 0 to 16 years in 12 centers across the country. The retrospective and prospective studies will be in a unique position to capture all children admitted to the 12 pediatric hospitals in Canada. Since reliance on discharge codes alone may underestimate gastroenteritis due to rotavirus, laboratory surveillance coupled with medical record review will ensure the complete capture of the true disease burden. Data on the health status of children will facilitate the evaluation of children who are medically fragile for which rotavirus infections may be more significant.