Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 58, 73-77, 2005
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Original article
Population-Based Estimates of the Cumulative
Risk of Hospitalization Potentially Associated with Rotavirus
Diarrhea among Children Living in Two Cities in Akita Prefecture,
Japan
Izumi Hiramoto, Toyoko Nakagomi* and Osamu Nakagomi**
Department of Microbiology, Akita University School of Medicine,
Akita 010-8543, Japan
(Received September 27, 2004. Accepted December 15, 2004)
*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Department of Microbiology,
Akita University School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita 010-8543,
Japan. Tel: +81-18-884-6081, Fax: +81-18-836-2607, E-mail: tnakagom@ipc.akita-u.ac.jp
**Present address: Department of Molecular Microbiology and
Immunology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University,
1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
SUMMARY: A 4-year retrospective population-based survey
was conducted in two cities in Akita Prefecture, Japan, to estimate
the incidence rate and the cumulative risk of hospitalization
potentially associated with rotavirus diarrhea. At monthly occasions
of the 3-year-old checkup, we asked each parent if his or her
child had ever been hospitalized because of rotavirus diarrhea.
Based on 3-year follow-up of the four consecutive birth cohorts
(1996-1999), we calculated the incidence rate and the cumulative
risk of rotavirus-associated hospitalizations by the age of 3
years. The incidence rates of rotavirus-associated hospitalization
in 1-year-old children in Akita city and Honjo city were 9.7 and
16 hospitalizations per 1,000 children per year, respectively,
whereas 1.9% of children in Akita city and 3.3% of children in
Honjo city were hospitalized by their third birthday because of
rotavirus-associated diarrhea. The burden of rotavirus diarrhea
in this region of Japan, and probably across the nation, appears
substantially large.
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