• Objectives

1. To establish a network of tertiary care health institutions (medical colleges and private hospitals) located strategically to cover various the socio-cultural and geographic regions of India and set up data capturing system that enables hospital based surveillance of intussusception in India.
2. To undertake retrospective surveillance at these health institutions through review of hospital records for last five years to document:
   • The occurrence of intussusception in infants (aged 1 month to 24 months) and the regional variation across India;
   • Time trends of intussusception by region, year and season at these study sites;
   • The clinical manifestations of intussusception across hospitals and regions;
   • The patient characteristics, interventions done and hospital outcome in these patients; and
   • Compare the clinical diagnosis criteria and Brighton diagnosis criteria in the cases with intussusception.
3. Undertake prospective surveillance at these health institutions over 12-18 months period to document:
   • The occurrence, seasonal distribution, clinical manifestation and hospital outcome  of intussusception in infants (aged 1 month to 24 months) and the regional variation across India;
   • Identify the potential linkage with any of the available licensed rotavirus vaccines
4. Build capacity of the investigators and institutions participating in the study to undertake prospective sentinel surveillance of intussusception (which may be used later post introduction of rotavirus vaccine).
5. Partner with local health systems to determine the feasibility of sustaining the surveillance system beyond the life of the project.

• Location

• Timeline of the project

•  Methods

This study proposes to adopt a combination of retrospective surveillance and prospective surveillance approach to document the rate of intussusception, the regional variation and trend over years at these 19 hospitals across India. The retrospective enquiry shall review records of last five years and prospective surveillance for new cases of intussusception for 18 months.

The final design of surveillance adopted at site level ought to differ based on the context and challenges existing locally, therefore requiring customizable and adaptable strategies to ensure the feasibility of caring out surveillance at local site level.

• Expected Outcomes

1. Background rate of intussusception in children <24 months and its related outcome
2. Occurrence of intussusception (requiring hospitalization), trend geographic variation in children
3. Causal association of intussusception with the Rotavirus vaccine