This article is from WeChat public account:Medical New Perspective (ID:HealthHorizon) authors: new medical point of view, the original title of “Chinese Center for Disease Control: only 2% of people influenza vaccine, influenza mortality burden has High? “, title map from: Oriental IC

An average of nearly 90,000 cases of influenza in China each yearRelated additional respiratory illness deaths, equivalent to 8.2% of all respiratory illness deaths.

Influenza virus infections worldwide cause a large number of morbidity and death each year. The associated burden of death varies from place to place, but most of the available data comes from high-income countries. Recently, the research team led by Prof. Feng Luzhao and Prof. Yu Hongjie from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention preliminarily counted the provincial- and national-level influenza-related mortality in China and published it in The Lancet Public Health.

Screenshot source: The Lancet Public Health official website

The research team is based on weekly influenza surveillance and population death data from 161 disease surveillance sites in 31 provinces/autonomous regions/municipalities in China, and refers to the annual population data of the provinces in China Statistical Yearbook and China. Annual respiratory disease mortality data, which estimates the additional mortality of respiratory diseases associated with influenza in China from 2010 to 2015.

In the five-year study period, China has an average of 88,100 additional influenza-related deaths from respiratory diseases, equivalent to 8.2% of all respiratory illness deaths.

The deadly threat of flu among people aged 60 and over is much higher than that of younger people. In the case of people under the age of 60 and those aged 60 and over, the mortality rate of influenza-related additional respiratory diseases averaged 1.5/100,000-quarters and 38.5/100,000-quarters, respectively, of which deaths occurred during the flu season. 20% and 80%. Older people tend to have more potential health problems, and the risk of death is usually higher after infection with the flu virus.

▲ Old people aged 60 or older are more vulnerable to the flu threat (Source: Pixabay)

In the different parts of the mainland, the mortality rate of influenza-related extra respiratory diseases also fluctuated. Overall, the central region was lower, and the mortality rates in the eastern coastal, southwestern and northwestern regions were higher, such as this in Jiangxi. The mortality rate is 1.7/100,000 people-season, and Shanghai is 11.9/100,000 people-season.

The research team pointed out that the high flu mortality rate in western China may be due to the lack of medical services, especially in rural areas. The high flu mortality rate in the east may be due to the high population density and increased risk of influenza transmission. For example, Shanghai and Beijing, not only have a large population, but also a large number of tourists, staff and patients from other regions, all of which may increase the burden of influenza-related deaths in cities.

▲In the eastern, southwestern and northwestern parts of the mainland, influenza-related extra respiratory disease mortality is higher. (Source: Reference [1])

The threats of different influenza virus subtypes vary. The annual extra mortality caused by influenza A virus H1N1, influenza A virus H3N2 and influenza B virus averages 1.6/100,000-quarter, 2.6/100,000-quarter, and 2.3/100,000-season, respectively. However, it should be noted that the activity of each virus subtype is different in different flu seasons.

▲ Different flu seasons, the activity of various viruses (B) and the resulting additional mortality (A) are different. (Source: Reference) [1])

Influenza virus activity varies widely in different regions. The northern provinces of China are dominated by winter epidemics, while the southern provinces are mainly spring and summer epidemics.

The research team pointed out that reviewing the monitoring data from 2010 to 2015 can be observed that the flu is associated with a large number of additional respiratory disease deaths, especially among the elderly population aged 60 and over. Seasonal influenza vaccination is the most effective intervention to prevent influenza. At present, the Chinese national immunization program does not include influenza vaccine. In the past 15 years, the population coverage of influenza vaccine has only gradually increased to about 2%. However, in areas such as Beijing, the government has begun to provide vaccination subsidies for the elderly. In the future, there is still a need to optimize public health policies and interventions, provide targeted interventions for specific populations, and provide vaccination and early treatment for more people to reduce the burden of death from influenza in mainland China.

References:

[1] Li Li, et al., (2019). Influenza-associated excess respiratory mortality in China, 2010–15: a population-based study. The Lancet Public Health , 10.1016/S2468-2667(19)30163-X

This article is from WeChat public account: new medical viewpoint (ID: HealthHorizon) , author: new medical viewpoint, Original title “China CDC: Only 2% of Chinese people get flu vaccine, how high is the flu death burden?”