摘要Objective The objective of our study was to evaluate the vaccine effectiveness(VE)of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine(RV5)among<5-year-old children in three provinces of China during 2020-2024 via a propensity score-matched test-negative case-control study.Methods Electronic health records and immunization information systems were used to obtain data on acute gastroenteritis(AGE)cases tested for rotavirus(RV)infection.RV-positive cases were propensity score matched with RV-negative controls for age,visit month,and province.Results The study included 27,472 children with AGE aged 8 weeks to 4 years at the time of AGE diagnosis;7.98%(2,192)were RV-positive.The VE(95%confidence interval,CI)of 1-2 and 3 doses of RV5 against any medically attended RV infection(inpatient or outpatient)was 57.6%(39.8%,70.2%)and 67.2%(60.3%,72.9%),respectively.Among children who received the 3rd dose before turning 5 months of age,3-dose VE decreased from 70.4%(53.9%,81.1%)(<5 months since the 3rd dose)to 63.0%(49.1%,73.0%)(≥1 year since the 3rd dose).The three-dose VE rate was 69.4%(41.3%,84.0%)for RVGE hospitalization and 57.5%(38.9%,70.5%)for outpatient-only medically attended RVGE.Conclusion Three-dose RV5 VE against rotavirus gastroenteritis(RVGE)in children aged<5 years was higher than 1-2-dose VE.Three-dose VE decreased with time since the 3rd dose in children who received the 3rd dose before turning five months of age,but remained above 60%for at least one year.VE was higher for RVGE hospitalizations than for medically attended outpatient visits.