Incidence of intussusception in children less than five years of age: a pre-rotavirus vaccine survey from Iran, 2010-2015

The aim of this study was to determine the baseline statistics of intussusception in the under-five- year age group in Iran to facilitate the monitoring of potential side effects after administration of rotavirus vaccine.

This hospital-based historical cohort study reviewed children under 60 months of age with the final diagnosis of intussusception, ICD-10 code K56.1, using census in all hospitals of Tehran, Iran from March 2010-2015. Demographic (sex, age, hospital stay duration), clinical manifestations (such as currant jelly stool, abdominal pain, vomiting, and fever),diagnostic and treatment methods (contrast enema, ultrasonography, laparotomy, and laparoscopy), and outcome data of patients aged less than 5 years with the diagnosis of intussusception were collected and analyzed using SPSS Version 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA)

In this study, 759 patients were diagnosed with intussusception; 309 (40.7%) cases were less than 12 months old. The annual incidence of intussusception was 66.54 cases per 100.000 in children less than one-year-old and 31.61 cases per 100.000 in children less than five years old. The most common symptoms and signs were abdominal pain/irritability (94.2%) and tenderness (24.2%), respectively. The diagnostic method was ultrasound in 75.9% of cases. The most frequent anatomic location was the ileocolic region (87.87%) and the most common treatment method was barium enema.

This research has provided a baseline statistic for childhood intussusception in Tehran prior to the administration of the rotavirus vaccine to provide a better comparison with post-introduction data.