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Palekar RS, Rolfes MA, Arriola CS, Acosta BO, Guidos PA, Vargas XB, Bancej C, Ramirez JB, Baumeister E, Bruno A, Cabello MA, Chen J, Couto P, Junior FJDP, Fasce R, Ferreira de Almeida W, Solorzano VEF, Ramírez CF, Goñi N, Isaza de Moltó Y, Lara J, Malo DC, Medina Osis JL, Mejía H, Castillo LM, Mustaquim D, Nwosu A, Ojeda J, Samoya AP, Pulido PA, Ramos Hernandez HM, Lopez RR, Rodriguez A, Saboui M, Bolanos HS, Santoro A, Silvera JE, Sosa P, Sotomayor V, Suarez L, Von Horoch M, Azziz-Baumgartner E. Burden of influenza-associated respiratory hospitalizations in the Americas, 2010-2015. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0221479. [PMID: 31490961 PMCID: PMC6730873 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2019] [Accepted: 08/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite having influenza vaccination policies and programs, countries in the Americas underutilize seasonal influenza vaccine, in part because of insufficient evidence about severe influenza burden. We aimed to estimate the annual burden of influenza-associated respiratory hospitalizations in the Americas. METHODS Thirty-five countries in the Americas with national influenza surveillance were invited to provide monthly laboratory data and hospital discharges for respiratory illness (International Classification of Diseases 10th edition J codes 0-99) during 2010-2015. In three age-strata (<5, 5-64, and ≥65 years), we estimated the influenza-associated hospitalizations rate by multiplying the monthly number of respiratory hospitalizations by the monthly proportion of influenza-positive samples and dividing by the census population. We used random effects meta-analyses to pool age-group specific rates and extrapolated to countries that did not contribute data, using pooled rates stratified by age group and country characteristics found to be associated with rates. RESULTS Sixteen of 35 countries (46%) contributed primary data to the analyses, representing 79% of the America's population. The average pooled rate of influenza-associated respiratory hospitalization was 90/100,000 population (95% confidence interval 61-132) among children aged <5 years, 21/100,000 population (13-32) among persons aged 5-64 years, and 141/100,000 population (95-211) among persons aged ≥65 years. We estimated the average annual number of influenza-associated respiratory hospitalizations in the Americas to be 772,000 (95% credible interval 716,000-829,000). CONCLUSIONS Influenza-associated respiratory hospitalizations impose a heavy burden on health systems in the Americas. Countries in the Americas should use this information to justify investments in seasonal influenza vaccination-especially among young children and the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rakhee S. Palekar
- Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Melissa A. Rolfes
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | - C. Sofia Arriola
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | - Belsy O. Acosta
- Department of Virology, “Pedro Kouri” Institute of Tropical Medicine, Havana, Cuba
| | | | | | | | | | - Elsa Baumeister
- National Reference Laboratory for Viral Respiratory Infections and National Influenza Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alfredo Bruno
- National Institute of Public Health Research, Guayaquil, Ecuador
| | | | - Jufu Chen
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
- Battelle Memorial Institute, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | - Paula Couto
- Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Natalia Goñi
- Department of Public Health Laboratories, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | | | - Jenny Lara
- Costa Rican Institute of Research and Education in Nutrition and Health, Cartago, Costa Rica
| | | | - José L. Medina Osis
- National Center of Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control of Diseases, Lima, Peru
| | | | | | - Desiree Mustaquim
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Angel Rodriguez
- Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | | | | | - Adrián Santoro
- Directorate of Statistics and Health Information, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | - Paulina Sosa
- Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | | | | | - Marta Von Horoch
- Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, Asuncion, Paraguay
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