Health-related Quality of Life in European Older Adults with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Over Three Respiratory Syncytial Virus Seasons

BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important cause of respiratory illness, affecting individuals of all ages. RSV can cause severe disease in older adults, but the disease burden and how it affects the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is not well characterized. METHODS: This multicenter, cross-sectional study conducted over three RSV seasons (October 2021-April 2024) in six European countries enrolled adults ≥60 years of age (YOA) who presented to general practitioners or outpatient clinics with an acute respiratory infection (ARI) and who were not vaccinated against RSV. The symptom duration, the effect of medically-attended confirmed RSV-ARI (cRSV-ARI) on symptomology (InFLUenza Patient-Reported Outcome [FLU-PRO] questionnaire) and HRQoL (EuroQoL-5 Dimension [EQ-5D-3L] questionnaire) as well as the healthcare resource utilization and working days lost were assessed. RESULTS: We analyzed 136 participants with a medically-attended cRSV-ARI. The median duration of any ARI symptom was 2.0-19.0 days. cRSV-ARI symptoms mostly affected the chest/respiratory domain (mean score: 1.72; standard deviation [SD]: 0.76) and the nose domain (mean score: 1.58; SD: 1.00). The mean country-specific cRSV-ARI utility scores ranged from 0.81 on Day 1 to 0.90 on Day 29. On Day 57, the score was 0.84. A trend for an increased effect on HRQoL was observed in participants with lower respiratory tract disease. The mean duration of treatment was 16.3 (SD: 11.9) days, and 27.8% of participants in active employment stayed home from work. CONCLUSIONS: medically-attended cRSV-ARIs substantially affect the symptomology and HRQoL of European adults ≥60 YOA who were not vaccinated against RSV.