Global burden of respiratory infections associated with seasonal influenza in children under 5 years in 2018: a systematic review and modelling study

Publication date: Available online 20 February 2020Source: The Lancet Global HealthAuthor(s): Xin Wang, You Li, Katherine L O'Brien, Shabir A Madhi, Marc-Alain Widdowson, Peter Byass, Saad B Omer, Qalab Abbas, Asad Ali, Alberta Amu, Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner, Quique Bassat, W Abdullah Brooks, Sandra S Chaves, Alexandria Chung, Cheryl Cohen, Marcela Echavarria, Rodrigo A Fasce, Angela Gentile, Aubree GordonSummaryBackgroundSeasonal influenza virus is a common cause of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) in young children. In 2008, we estimated that 20 million influenza-virus-associated ALRI and 1 million influenza-virus-associated severe ALRI occurred in children under 5 years globally. Despite this substantial burden, only a few low-income and middle-income countries have adopted routine influenza vaccination policies for children and, where present, these have achieved only low or unknown levels of vaccine uptake. Moreover, the influenza burden might have changed due to the emergence and circulation of influenza A/H1N1pdm09. We aimed to incorporate new data to update estimates of the global number of cases, hospital admissions, and mortality from influenza-virus-associated respiratory infections in children under 5 years in 2018.MethodsWe estimated the regional and global burden of influenza-associated respiratory infections in children under 5 years from a systematic review of 100 studies published between Jan 1, 1995, and Dec 31, 2018, and a further 57 high-quality un...
Source: The Lancet Global Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research