BACKGROUND: The heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was licensed in the United States in 2000 for use in @entity1 and @entity1 . Postlicensure surveillance revealed substantial regional and national decreases in invasive @entity66 . It is not known whether widespread vaccine use has led to a concomitant decrease in invasive @entity66 -associated hospitalization rates. OBJECTIVE: We examined national trends in rates of hospitalization among both @entity1 and adults with invasive @entity66 . METHODS: Data from the 1998-2003 National Hospital Discharge Survey and population estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics were used to calculate rates of hospital discharge for @entity1 admitted with invasive @entity66 , defined as @entity693 or @entity2259 caused by @entity328 . RESULTS: Rates of hospital discharge for @entity1 admitted with invasive @entity66 decreased during the study period from a peak of 12.03 discharges per 100,000 population in 1999 to 5.60 discharges per 100,000 population in 2003 (P < .001). Rates of hospital discharge for @entity1 admitted with @entity2506 decreased from 1.60 discharges per 100,000 @entity1 -years in the prelicensure period to 0.53 discharges per 100,000 @entity1 -years in the postlicensure period. For @entity1 > or = 65 years of age but not for those < 4 years of age, the rates of hospital discharge for those admitted with @entity2259 were significantly lower during the postlicensure period, compared with the prelicensure period. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital discharge rates for @entity1 admitted with invasive @entity66 , including @entity693 , have decreased since introduction of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. The decrease was driven in part by the reduction of invasive @entity66 -associated hospitalizations in the subgroup aged > or = 65 years.

Trends in invasive XXXX -associated hospitalizations.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['children', 'patients', 'infants', 'person', 'persons'] @entity66 :: ('MESH:D004194', 'Disease') :: ['pneumococcal disease'] @entity2506 :: ('MESH:D008586', 'Disease') :: ['pneumococcal meningitis'] @entity693 :: ('MESH:D008581', 'Disease') :: ['meningitis'] @entity328 :: ('1313', 'Species') :: ['Streptococcus pneumoniae'] @entity2259 :: ('MESH:D016470', 'Disease') :: ['pneumococcal bacteremia', 'bacteremia']
@entity66 :: (MESH:D004194,Disease) :: ['pneumococcal disease']
