1. Analysis of the morbidity and mortality of severe influenza infection in Clark County, Nevada for the 2010--2011 influenza season
- Author
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St. Jacques, Kindra Maureen and St. Jacques, Kindra Maureen
- Abstract
Influenza circulates in the community in a fairly predictable manner each year; however, throughout the duration of any influenza season, influenza strains have the ability to evolve through antigenic mutations, viral reassortment, development of anti-viral resistance, and alterations in virulence. These changes are likely to cause illness among the unimmunized and can result in severe illness or death. Therefore, it is especially important to closely monitor severe influenza-associated hospitalizations and deaths. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas in collaboration with the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD), Office of Epidemiology (OOE) analyzed data from the severe hospitalized influenza morbidity and mortality surveillance project for all residents of Clark County from October 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011. These data were analyzed using a descriptive approach to illustrate the epidemiology of severe influenza-associated hospitalizations and deaths, and an analytical approach to identify any associations between the variables of interest and the incidence of severe influenza-associated deaths. Among the study population (N= 158), the influenza strain type was found to be significantly associated with deaths (n= 25). Of the 36 cases diagnosed with influenza A (H1N1), 30.6% resulted in death; patients diagnosed with influenza B demonstrated a similar proportion of deaths at 29.6%; and influenza A (no subtype) was the most commonly diagnosed influenza strain (n= 94) in Clark County, but it had the lowest proportion of deaths at 6.4%. Vaccine status was not found to be significantly associated with death among hospitalized patients. The majority of deaths (n= 14) had an unknown vaccine status; therefore, these results are inconclusive. The length of stay distribution for influenza-associated hospitalizations and deaths was non-normal because the majority of patients (70.4%) were admitted for ≤ 7 days. Transformed data showed that there was no statistically signi
- Published
- 2011