OBJECTIVES : Meningococcal infection is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis and is a potentially life-threatening disease which affects individuals of all ages. Sporadic outbreaks of meningococcal disease continue to occur despite high rates of vaccination. To better understand recent trends, incidence of meningococcal disease in a large US health care database was compared to nationally published estimates from CDC.

METHODS : A retrospective analysis was performed using commercial and Medicare claims in the Optum Research Database (ORD) from January 1999 to December 2016. Diagnosis codes (ICD-9-CM 036 or ICD-10-CM A39) on inpatient claims were used to identify patients with meningococcal disease. Annual meningococcal incidence was calculated as the ratio of newly diagnosed meningococcal cases over the total person-time at risk and compared to CDC surveillance data.

RESULTS : From 1999-2016, 2,936 meningococcal cases were identified in the ORD with an overall incidence rate of 0.8 cases per 100,000 person-years (PY). Using data from 2006-2016, the incidence of meningococcal disease was highest in children younger than 1 year old (2.8 per 100,000 PY aged <1 year) followed by a second peak in adolescents and young adults (0.7 cases per 100,000 PY aged 16-25), consistent with trends reported by the CDC. However, among all age groups, incidence rates estimated from ORD were approximately twice as high as those reported by the CDC.

CONCLUSIONS : Although incidence rate estimates for meningococcal disease in ORD were higher than those reported by CDC, trends were similar in the two databases. The incidence of meningococcal disease by age group in the ORD was consistent with the age distribution reported by CDC (2006-2016). Large managed care administrative claims databases may provide an important alternative perspective to monitor trends in disease incidence and changes in epidemiology of meningococcal disease over time.