Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Hepatol. Mar 27, 2026; 18(3): 114519
Published online Mar 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i3.114519
Published online Mar 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i3.114519
Evaluating cirrhosis and respiratory syncytial virus infection: Should we vaccinate?
Nirbaanjot Walia, Irene Lu, Nicholas Hannah, Siddharth Sood, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Northern Health, Melbourne 3076, Victoria, Australia
Nicholas Hannah, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne Health, Melbourne 3050, Victoria, Australia
Nicholas Hannah, Siddharth Sood, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Victoria, Australia
Author contributions: Walia N and Sood S were responsible for study conceptualization, design and data collection; Walia N was responsible for data analysis; Walia N, Lu I, Hannah N, and Sood S were involved in data interpretation. All others contributed to manuscript preparation, review and have approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study received approval from the Northern Health Research Development and Governance Unit (approval No. 63.2024).
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: Additional data may be made available on request to the corresponding author.
Corresponding author: Nicholas Hannah, BBiomedSc, MD, FRACP, Department of Gastro
Received: September 22, 2025
Revised: October 22, 2025
Accepted: January 4, 2026
Published online: March 27, 2026
Processing time: 185 Days and 17.2 Hours
Revised: October 22, 2025
Accepted: January 4, 2026
Published online: March 27, 2026
Processing time: 185 Days and 17.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an increasingly recognised cause of hospitalisation in adults, but its impact in patients with cirrhosis remains poorly defined. In this hospital-based study, RSV-related admissions among patients with cirrhosis were relatively infrequent and were not associated with the degree of healthcare utilisation or mortality observed in several other chronic disease groups. These findings suggest that the burden of RSV in cirrhosis requires further evaluation, and further research is required on the relationship between RSV and cirrhosis to help inform vaccination strategies.