Table 1.

Characteristics of the RVGE hospitalizations observed annually in Sicily, before and after universal mass vaccination introduction among 0–59 months children (n = 5,871).

	Before vaccination (2009–2012) Total cases n = 3,845	After vaccination (2013–2016) Total cases n = 2,026	p-value
Average hospitalization cases per year, n ± SD	961± 164	507± 270	0.007
Average hospitalization rate per year x 100,000, ± SD	394 ± 73	220 ± 117	0.005
Gender
– Male, n (%)	2,104 (54.7)	1,105 (54.5)	0.82
–Female, n (%)	1,741 (45.3)	921 (45.5)
Hospitalization age in months, mean ± SD	22.3 ± 13.9	25.6 ± 14.8	0.0002
Length of hospital stay in days, mean ± SD	5.1 ± 8.1	4.9 ± 3.07	0.53

^* student t-test for quantitative variables and chi-square test for the categorical one were used.