Hospital admissions for respiratory infections due to RSV remain a significant health problem among young children and this is despite provision of immunoprophylaxis to children with medical factors placing them most at risk of this outcome. In an effort to find new strategies to reduce the burden of severe RSV we aimed to identify additional environmental factors that might be associated with RSV hospitalization. In this study we found that colder air temperatures during the most prevalent exposure period for RSV infection are associated with increased likelihood of RSV hospitalization.
This finding is in alignment with other studies of RSV infection in temperate climates that have noted a relationship with colder air temperature. For example, one study from the UK found that an increase in mean daily temperatures in central England observed over 2 decades (1981–2004) (i.e. global warming), was associated with a gradual shortening of the RSV season over time.[26] Our identification of a relationship between temperature and severe RSV infections may reflect RSV - host virulence factors or human behavioural factors influencing transmission.
For example, there is some evidence that nasal and airway epithelium may be more susceptible to RSV infection and less able to clear infections when exposed to cold. Disruption and damage to the respiratory mucosal barrier caused by dry and cold air conditions can increase risk of infection by RSV.[27] Inhalation of cold air slows the mucociliary escalator (a non-specific respiratory immune defence) and causes increased susceptibility to infection. This may also impair the ability to clear infections, leading to a more severe illness.[22, 28] Furthermore, It is also possible that there is increased stability of RSV in liquid droplets at lower temperatures which might lead to prolonged survival of RSV on environmental surfaces and increased infection risk during colder periods.[29, 30]
However, another explanation for our finding of increased odds of RSV infection with cold temperatures could be due to the tendency of people to spend more time indoors during cold weather periods. This would increase the duration of exposure to the virus and facilitate RSV infection transmission amongst family members including vulnerable young children. Increased duration of exposure may also increase the inoculum size and viral load and they increase the severity of illness.[31, 32] In our sensitivity analysis we did confirm that a higher number of siblings was independently associated with an increased likelihood of having an RSV admission, and previous studies have shown that infants are most likely to contract RSV from household members.[33] A similar mechanism has been hypothesized for the observation of increased RSV infection during periods of increased heat and humidity in tropical countries when people may spend more time indoors. Studies of indoor air quality conducted in Canada’s far northern regions where average household size is typically more than 6 persons further support this mechanism and have shown an association between reduced indoor ventilation and increased rates of respiratory infections, including RSV, among young Inuit children.[34]
The link between cold air temperatures and RSV hospitalization in our study was independent of multiple confounding factors that we included in our adjusted model, including geographic variables and socioeconomic status. Indeed we did observe an association between lower neighbourhood income quintile and increased odds of RSV admission as previously noted in the literature.[35, 36] The relationship between respiratory illnesses, and overall greater acute health services use with lower socioeconomic status has been well documented in many Canadian studies. While we also noted a weak association between ground level ozone and increased likelihood of RSV hospitalization in our primary model, this was not seen in our sensitivity analysis or reflected in the association with overall AQHI and may simply represent a statistical anomaly. Moreover, we were only able to capture annualized ozone levels and AQHI and these may not be accurate indicators of the air quality during the time of RSV infection.
Though not the main focus of our study, we did note a relationship between RSV admission and geographical location. Living in the southern ecozones (warmer climates, more urbanization) was associated with an increased odds of RSV admission that was not related to rural versus urban residence. It is possible that environmental parameters beyond temperature or air quality, such as humidity or barometric pressure, as identified in other studies, as well as other unmeasured ecological factors may influence the risk of RSV infection and illness severity among Ontario children.
It has been previously shown that the majority of RSV hospitalizations among children in Ontario occur in those who would not have received immunoprophylaxis.[10] Our work suggests an opportunity to identify risk factors beyond comorbid health conditions that could be targeted to refine our current criteria for providing this preventative therapy. For example, a cost-benefit analysis could be performed to determine the effect of extending criteria for immunoprophylaxis to additional vulnerable populations just during the coldest winter months, rather than for the entire RSV season, or considering socioeconomic factors or number of siblings in the home when determining who qualifies for RSV immunization. In our study we excluded children of < 36 weeks gestational age as they might have qualified for immunoprophylaxis, but many children between gestational ages 32–35 weeks in fact do not receive this intervention as they do not meet all qualifying criteria. For this population in particular, the consideration of additional risk factors in determining who meets criteria for public provision of immunoprophylaxis could have significant health impact and further reduce RSV hospitalizations which have remained constant in the last decade.
The use of health administrative data in this study allowed us to explore the association between climate factors and RSV hospitalization across the entire population of the vast geographic expanse of Ontario. Though this methodology provided significant power, there are some limitations, including lack of information on potential contributory factors such as environmental tobacco smoke or indoor air quality. In an effort to eliminate the confounding influence of immunoprophylaxis on the odds of RSV admission, we excluded all children who would have possibly met the most common criteria for immunoprophylaxis for RSV such as prematurity, or the presence of chronic lung disease, congenital heart disease or trisomy 21. As such, our study results are not generalizable to all children. It is also possible that some children in our cohort of RSV cases may have received immunoprophylaxis (due to individual risk factors identified on a case-by case basis), though we would expect this to be a very small proportion and unlikely to alter the main study findings.