COVID Trumped Flu for Kid Hospitalizations | MedPage Today - Medpage Today

Hospitalizations associated with COVID-19 in kids were higher than influenza-related hospitalizations in the years leading up to the pandemic, researchers found.

Overall, the rate of COVID-associated hospitalization (48.2 per 100,000 children in 2020-2021) surpassed the highest rate of influenza-associated hospitalization from the 3 years prior to the pandemic (41.7 per 100,000 in 2019-2020), reported Miranda Delahoy, PhD, of the CDC, and colleagues.

However, the rate of hospitalizations varied by age, with a higher hospitalization rate for COVID versus influenza among adolescents, and a lower or comparable hospitalization rate among children under age 12, the authors wrote in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

They examined two data sources: the Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) and the Coronavirus Disease 2019-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET). Both FluSurv-NET and COVID-NET contain data from 14 states. A positive case for both was defined as a positive test for either influenza or SARS-CoV-2 during or 14 days or fewer from hospitalization.

The authors looked at flu data from October 2017 to February 2020, and COVID data from October 2020 to September 2021 (prior to the Omicron surge). Overall, 6,774 children were hospitalized with influenza during the flu seasons of 2017-2018 (33.5 per 100,000), 2018-2019 (33.8 per 100,000), and 2019-2020 (41.7 per 100,000). During the pandemic period, 3,461 children were hospitalized for COVID-19. Median age was younger with influenza compared with COVID (3 vs 9, respectively).

About 54-56% of children hospitalized with either flu or COVID had at least one underlying medical condition. The most common conditions were asthma/reactive airway disease, neurologic disorder, and obesity.

Median hospital length of stay was significantly lower for flu-related than COVID-related hospitalizations (2 vs 3 days, respectively), though a significantly higher proportion of children with flu developed pneumonia versus those with COVID (17.8% vs 13.3%, P<0.01 for both).

Fewer children with flu required invasive mechanical ventilation or ICU admission, and there was no significant difference between the proportion of flu-related and COVID-related deaths (0.5% vs 0.7%, P=0.28).

The authors also looked at preliminary data from a more recent time period (October 2021 to April 2022) and found that COVID-associated hospitalizations for all children were not only higher than the influenza-associated hospitalization rate, but also the COVID-associated hospitalization rate from earlier in the pandemic.

The team noted that increases were driven by higher hospitalization rates among infants 6 months and younger.

Not surprisingly, influenza-associated hospitalization rates "decreased abruptly" in March 2020 following the implementation of mitigation measures at the start of the pandemic, and there were only nine influenza-associated hospitalizations reported to FluSurv-NET during the entire 2020-2021 flu season.

Among children ages 0-4 years, influenza-associated hospitalization rates were higher in 2019-2020 (91.5 per 100,000) than COVID-associated hospitalization rates during the pandemic (66.8). In children ages 5-11 years, flu-associated hospitalizations in both 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 (26.8-31.7) were similar to the COVID hospitalization rate in 2020-2021 (25.0).

It was a different story for adolescents ages 12-17, however. COVID hospitalizations were substantially higher (59.9) than the highest rate of recent flu-related hospitalizations (14.0 in 2017-2018).

Limitations to the data include that children may have been hospitalized for other reasons than influenza or COVID, and that hospitals commonly screened for COVID in hospitalized patients. There was also the potential for missing data, since the networks relied on "clinician-directed or facility-based testing practices and test ability," and influenza cases may have been underdiagnosed due to lack of seasonal influenza testing.

  • author['full_name']

    Molly Walker is deputy managing editor and covers infectious diseases for MedPage Today. She is a 2020 J2 Achievement Award winner for her COVID-19 coverage. Follow

Disclosures

This study was supported by the CDC, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists.

Delahoy disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Other co-authors disclosed support from the NIH, CDC, Pfizer, Merck, PaxVax, Micron, Sanofi-Pasteur, Janssen, MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline, Medscape, Kentucky Bioprocessing, and VBI Vaccines.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Roseola vs. measles rash: What is the difference? - Medical News Today

Image
Roseola and measles are two different diseases that present with a high fever and a rash. They are both most commonly seen in childhood, although measles can affect people of any age, and roseola in adults is very rare. While both diseases share similarities, there are distinguishing factors, such as how the symptoms present and the disease progression. Read on to find out the difference between roseola and measles rashes. Roseola, also known as roseola infantum, sixth disease, or exanthema subitum, is a viral infection that typically affects children. The human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) or human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) causes roseola. The disease is spread through tiny respiratory droplets that people either breathe in or pick up from surfaces they touch. This disease usually presents in children between the ages of 6–12 months . Children who have this disease experience a high fever, followed by a pink or red rash. Roseola is a self-limiting viral illness, meaning it will typically go awa...
Read more

poliomyelitis treatment

Image
poliomyelitis treatment Drug and Device News March 2019 - P&T Community Posted: 04 Mar 2019 10:35 AM PST NEW DRUG APPROVALS Ontruzant, a Herceptin Biosimilar The FDA has approved trastuzumabdttb (Ontruzant, Samsung Bioepis Company, Ltd.) for HER2-overexpressing breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Trastuzumabdttb, a HER2/neu receptor antagonist, is the third FDA-approved biosimilar of Herceptin (Genentech). Patients should be selected for therapy based on an FDA-approved companion diagnostic. Trastuzumab-dttb carries a boxed warning about the risks of cardiomyopathy, serious and fatal infusion reactions, embryo-fetal toxicity, and pulmonary toxicity. Ontruzant will be marketed and distributed in the U.S. by Merck. Sources: Samsung Bioepis, January 21, 2019; Ontruzant . prescribing information, January 2019; FDA, January 18, 2019 Vaxelis, a Combination Vaccine T...
Read more

Coronavirus fake news echoes century-old polio fears - Newsroom

Image
Coronavirus fake news echoes century-old polio fears - Newsroom Coronavirus fake news echoes century-old polio fears - Newsroom Posted: 05 Feb 2020 08:32 AM PST FEBRUARY 6, 2020 Updated 15 hours ago Dr Heather Battles Dr Heather Battles is a lecturer in anthropology at the University of Auckland and researches infectious diseases and epidemics. Show more Ideasroom During the past month, in the confusion and uncertainty over the precise origin of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, many alternate ideas or 'conspiracy theories' have sprung up and spread widely via social media including Twitter and Facebook. I have had a sense of déjà vu as many of these claims have parallels in how people responded to another 'emerging' epidemic disease a century ago: polio. The first example that struck me is the idea (spread by US fake news website Infowars and others) that the roll-out of 5G technology is to blame, wit...
Read more