Systematic review and meta-analysis of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and their impact on respiratory tract infections in children under 5 years

Respiratory syncytial virus is the main cause of respiratory tract infections in infants and children. This study systematically reviewed and conducted a meta-analysis of published data on four types of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and their effect on respiratory tract infections. After screening of 910 studies, 16 studies involving 1189 participants aged 0 to 5 years were included in the analysis. We observed that vector-based vaccines demonstrated a significant reduction in the incidence of lower respiratory tract infections (vector based: RR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.32-0.69; p = 0.0001), when compared to other vaccines. The study also identified that the c-DNA vaccines showed a significant increase in the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections compared to placebo groups (patients: 63.81%; placebo group: 37.25%; RR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.17-2.46; p = 0.005). All vaccines, except c-DNA, showed reduced incidences of respiratory tract infections, with vector-based vaccines having a significant impact in reducing respiratory tract infections in infants and children. Copyright © 2025 Finlay Ediciones. All rights reserved.