tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Infect Dis Epidemiol
. 2021 Jul;7(7):218.
doi: 10.23937/2474-3658/1510218. Epub 2021 Jul 19.
Lessons from the Past: Methodological Issues Arising from Comparison of the Disease Burden of the Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic 2009-10 and Seasonal Influenza 2010-2019 in the United States
James A Koziol[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jan E Schnitzer[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Annual influenza outbreaks constitute a major public health concern, both in the United States and worldwide. Comparisons of the health burdens of outbreaks might lead to the identification of specific at-risk populations, for whom public health resources should be marshaled appropriately and equitably.
Methods: We examined the disease burden of the 2009-10 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic relating to illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and mortality, compared to influenza seasons 2010 to 2019, in the United States, as compiled by the Centers for Disease Control.
Results: With regard to seasonal influenza, rates of illnesses and medical visits were highest in infants aged 0-4 years, followed by adults aged 50-64 years. Rates of hospitalizations and deaths evinced a starkly different pattern, both dominated by elderly adults aged 65 and over. Youths aged 0 to 17 years were especially adversely affected by the H1N1 pandemic relative to hospitalizations and mortality compared to seasonal influenza; but curiously the opposite pattern was observed in elderly adults (aged 65 and older).
Conclusions: Determination of a baseline influenza mortality profile in the United States over the 2010-19 decade is not straightforward. The disease burden of the 2009-10 influenza A pandemic among the elderly was strikingly unlike that observed in the subsequent influenza seasons 2010 to 2019: the past did not predict the future.
. 2021 Jul;7(7):218.
doi: 10.23937/2474-3658/1510218. Epub 2021 Jul 19.
Lessons from the Past: Methodological Issues Arising from Comparison of the Disease Burden of the Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic 2009-10 and Seasonal Influenza 2010-2019 in the United States
James A Koziol[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jan E Schnitzer[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34988352
- PMCID: PMC8725685
- DOI: 10.23937/2474-3658/1510218
Abstract
Background: Annual influenza outbreaks constitute a major public health concern, both in the United States and worldwide. Comparisons of the health burdens of outbreaks might lead to the identification of specific at-risk populations, for whom public health resources should be marshaled appropriately and equitably.
Methods: We examined the disease burden of the 2009-10 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic relating to illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and mortality, compared to influenza seasons 2010 to 2019, in the United States, as compiled by the Centers for Disease Control.
Results: With regard to seasonal influenza, rates of illnesses and medical visits were highest in infants aged 0-4 years, followed by adults aged 50-64 years. Rates of hospitalizations and deaths evinced a starkly different pattern, both dominated by elderly adults aged 65 and over. Youths aged 0 to 17 years were especially adversely affected by the H1N1 pandemic relative to hospitalizations and mortality compared to seasonal influenza; but curiously the opposite pattern was observed in elderly adults (aged 65 and older).
Conclusions: Determination of a baseline influenza mortality profile in the United States over the 2010-19 decade is not straightforward. The disease burden of the 2009-10 influenza A pandemic among the elderly was strikingly unlike that observed in the subsequent influenza seasons 2010 to 2019: the past did not predict the future.