Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 30, 2026

Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage
07:47

Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage

Published on: February 15, 2013

16.2K

Increase in tympanostomy tube placements despite pneumococcal vaccination, a population-based study

Elias Eythorsson1, Samuel Sigurdsson1, Helga Erlendsdóttir1,2

  • 1Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)
|January 23, 2019
PubMed

Insights

The 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV) showed a -6% estimated impact on tympanostomy tube placements in Icelandic children. Despite high vaccine uptake, tympanostomy tube procedures increased, with milder preceding illness in vaccinated children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric infectious diseases
  • Vaccinology
  • Public health surveillance

Background:

  • Tympanostomy tube placement (TTP) is a common procedure in young children, often following otitis media.
  • Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) are crucial for preventing invasive pneumococcal disease and related complications.
  • Understanding the impact of PCVs on TTP is essential for evaluating vaccine effectiveness and healthcare resource utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To estimate the impact of the 10-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PHiD-CV) on tympanostomy tube placements (TTP) in children under five years of age in Iceland.
  • To assess changes in TTP rates following the introduction of PHiD-CV in a national cohort.
  • To compare disease severity indicators between vaccine-eligible and non-eligible children undergoing TTP.

Main Methods:

  • Population-based observational cohort study of 11 birth cohorts (2005-2015) in Iceland.
  • Utilized national population registries linked by identification numbers.
  • Cox regression analysis to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of TTP, calculating vaccine impact as (1-HR) × 100% after adjusting for prior otitis media diagnoses and antimicrobial prescriptions.

Main Results:

  • A total of 51,247 children were followed for 210,724 person-years; 14,351 children underwent 20,373 TTP procedures.
  • The estimated vaccine impact of PHiD-CV on TTP was -6% (95% Confidence Interval: -16% to 2.7%).
  • Children in vaccine-eligible cohorts presented with fewer previous otitis media diagnoses and antimicrobial prescriptions prior to TTP compared to non-eligible cohorts.

Conclusions:

  • Despite high PHiD-CV uptake in Iceland, the overall rate of tympanostomy tube procedures increased during the study period.
  • Vaccine-eligible children exhibited less severe preceding illness before undergoing TTP.
  • The underlying reasons for the observed increase in TTP and milder disease in vaccinated children remain speculative and warrant further investigation.
Abstract

Keywords:
Streptococcus pneumoniaeConjugate vaccinesMiddle ear ventilationOtitis mediaPHiD-CV vaccine

More Related Videos

Investigating the Effects of Probiotics on Pneumococcal Colonization Using an In Vitro Adherence Assay09:20

Investigating the Effects of Probiotics on Pneumococcal Colonization Using an In Vitro Adherence Assay

Published on: April 28, 2014

13.1K
Dried Blood Spot Collection of Health Biomarkers to Maximize Participation in Population Studies07:20

Dried Blood Spot Collection of Health Biomarkers to Maximize Participation in Population Studies

Published on: January 28, 2014

37.3K

Related Concept Videos

Vaccinations01:51

Vaccinations

Overview
51.7K
Population Growth00:57

Population Growth

Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.
28.4K
What is Population Genetics?01:25

What is Population Genetics?

A population is composed of members of the same species that simultaneously live and interact in the same area. When individuals in a population breed, they pass down their genes to their offspring. Many of these genes are polymorphic, meaning that they occur in multiple variants. Such variations of a gene are referred to as alleles. The collective set of all the alleles within a population is known as the gene pool.
64.7K
Conservation of Small Populations02:04

Conservation of Small Populations

Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...
17.2K
What are Populations and Communities?00:30

What are Populations and Communities?

Overview
37.7K
Increasing Function01:18

Increasing Function

An increasing function exhibits a rise in output values as input values increase. This behavior is depicted graphically as a curve or line that slopes upward from left to right. Such a function satisfies the condition that if x1 < x2, then f(x1) < f(x2), indicating that the function values grow with increasing inputs. This concept is fundamental in understanding growth trends across various domains, such as population dynamics, financial investments, or resource consumption.The...
391