Abstract

BackgroundIn the United States, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of admission for adults with respiratory illness. In adults > 50 years of age, it accounts for up to 12% of medically-attended acute respiratory illnesses and has a case fatality proportion of ~6–8%. Poverty can have an important influence on health. Few studies have evaluated the relationship of RSV incidence and poverty level, and no identified studies have evaluated this relationship among adults. We evaluated the incidence of RSV-associated hospitalizations in adults in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA by census-tract-level poverty.MethodsMedical record data abstraction was conducted for all adults with a laboratory-confirmed RSV infection who were admitted to a hospital within the 3 counties comprising the catchment area (Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties) during the 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 RSV seasons. Patient addresses were geocoded to their corresponding census-tract (CT). Census tracts were divided into four levels of poverty based on American Community Survey data of percentage of people living below the poverty level: 0–4.9%, 5–9.9%, 10-–9.9%, and ³20%. Incidence rates were calculated by dividing the number of RSV cases in each CT poverty-level (numerator) by the number of adults living in each CT poverty level (denominator), as determined from the 2010 US census, and standardized for age.ResultsThere were 526 RSV case-patients with demographic characteristics as outlined in Table 1. The highest incidence of RSV-associated hospitalization was in CTs associated with the highest levels of poverty (>20%). However, the second highest incidence of RSV-associated hospitalization occurred among adults living in CTs with <5% poverty (Figure 1 and Table 2).ConclusionThe incidence rate of RSV-associated hospitalization in adults appears to be positively correlated with highest census-tract level of poverty; however, there is a high incidence among adults living in the lowest poverty census-tracts. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

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