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State-level influenza-associated hospitalizations reporting beneficial
Boulton R.MMWR. 2011;60:1310-1314.
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CDC officials found that 2009 influenza A led to more severe illness and disproportionally affected hospitalizations among ethnic minorities in Utah when compared with seasonal influenza. Officials stress the importance of influenza-associated hospitalizations reporting to better target and control influenza illness across all states, according to recent findings published in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“Hospital surveillance for influenza, both seasonal and pandemic, provides valuable information on populations severely affected by influenza,” Rachelle Boulton, MSPH, of the Utah Department of Health, and colleagues, wrote in the report. “States that make influenza-associated hospitalizations a reportable condition can gain information useful for targeting influenza control activities.”
Boulton and colleagues pooled data on all influenza-associated hospitalizations reported by health care authorities in Utah between April 27, 2009 and May 21, 2010 in comparison with hospitalizations from three previous influenza seasons (2005-2006; 2006-2007; and 2007-2008).
Compared with 435 seasonal influenza-associated hospitalizations during the three previous influenza seasons, 14% of which resulted in severe illness, there were 1,327 2009 H1N1 hospitalizations, 25.5% of which resulted in severe illness or death. Utah’s most densely populated county (Salt Lake County), ethnic minorities and pregnant women were those most disproportionally affected by 2009 H1N1.
Further, more hospitalizations resulted in severe illness (30.9%) during the “spring wave” (April 27, 2009- August 29, 2009) when compared with the “fall wave” (23%; August 30, 2009-May 21, 2010).
“Although severe illness was more common among patients hospitalized with 2009 H1N1 than seasonal influenza, the percentage of persons hospitalized in Utah with severe illness from 2009 H1N1 was similar to findings reported in published studies that found between 20% and 31% of spring pandemic hospitalizations required ICU admission,” CDC officials wrote in an accompanying editorial. “A decrease in the percentage of hospitalizations with severe illness was seen between the two 2009 H1N1 waves, although both spring and fall waves had greater percentages of severe illness than the 2007–2008 influenza season.”
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