All Ages at Risk for H1N1 Complications

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A closer look at H1N1 cases in California suggests the virus shows no discrimination based on age when it comes to hospitalizations and deaths.

After examining features of the first 1,088 hospitalized and fatal cases of H1N1 in California, researchers found complications that sent people to the hospital and led to death occurred at all ages.

Researchers found among the hospitalized cases, 32 percent were children younger than 18 years old, with infants having the highest rate of hospitalization. Eleven percent of those hospitalized with H1N1 died, and 7 percent of those deaths were children younger than 18. People over age 50 had the highest rate of death once in the hospital.

"In the first 16 weeks of the current pandemic, 2009 influenza A (H1N1) appears to be notably different from seasonal influenza, with fewer hospitalizations and fatalities occurring in elderly persons," study authors wrote. "In contrast with the common perception that pandemic 2009 influenza A (H1N1) infection causes only mild disease, hospitalization and death occurred at all ages, and up to 30 percent of hospitalized cases were severely ill. Most hospitalized cases had identifiable established risk facts; obesity may be a newly identified risk factor for fatal pandemic 2009 influenza A (H1N1) infection and merits further study."

SOURCE: JAMA, November 2009

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