Hospital and economic burden of influenza-like illness and lower respiratory tract infection in adults ≥50 years-old.

BACKGROUND: Influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) cause substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. The study assessed the health and economic burden of ILI and LRTI according to age and comorbidities, since available evidence is limited and heterogeneous. METHOD: The prevalence of comorbidities, the seasonal incidence rates and the mean and per capita direct costs of ED accesses for ILI/LRTI, whether followed by hospitalization or not, recorded in adults aged ≥50 years over the last 6 years, in the referral hospitals located in the Genoese metropolitan area (Liguria, Italy) where the syndromic surveillance system is active, were evaluated through a retrospective observational study. Comorbidities were estimated through the Chronic Condition Data Warehouse that integrates multiple Medicare data sources. A comparison with the administrative healthcare International Classification of Diseases-9th revision-Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM)-based data was also conducted. RESULTS: The prevalence of subjects with ≥1 comorbidity ranged from 23.49 to 59.92%. The most prevalent all-age comorbidities were cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The overall ILI/LRTI incidence rate was 6.73/1000 person-years, almost double the value derived from routine data, and increased with age. The highest rates were observed in patients with renal failure and bronchopneumopathies. The mean cost of ED accesses/hospitalization for ILI/LRTI was €3353 and was almost twice as high in the ≥85 years as in the youngest age-group. The highest mean costs were observed in patients with renal failure and cancer. The per capita costs increased from €4 to €71 with age, and were highest in patients with renal failure and bronchopneumopathy. CONCLUSION: The burden of ILIs/LRTIs in terms of ED accesses and hospitalizations in adults aged ≥50 years is heavy, and is related to increasing age and, especially, to specific comorbidities. These results could contribute to revising age- and risk-based anti-influenza and -pneumococcus immunization strategies.

Weight of risk factors for mortality and short-term mortality displacement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: We conducted a population-based cohort study to estimate mortality before, during and after the COVID-19 peak and to compare mortality in 2020 with rates reported in previous years, with a view to helping decision makers to apply containment measures for high-risk groups. Methods: All deaths were collected between 2015 and 2020 from municipal registry database. In 2020, weeks 1-26 were stratified in three periods: before, during and after the COVID mortality peak. The Poisson Generalized Linear regression Model showed the "harvesting effect". Three logistic regressions for 8 dependent variables (age and comorbidities) and a t-test of differences described all-cause mortality risk factors in 2019 and 2020 and differences between COVID and non-COVID patients. Results: A total of 47,876 deaths were collected. All-cause deaths increased by 38.5% during the COVID peak and decreased by 18% during the post-peak period in comparison with the average registered during the control period (2015-19), with significant mortality displacement in 2020. Except for chronic renal injuries in subjects aged 45-64 years, diabetes and chronic cardiovascular diseases in those aged 65-84 years, and neuropathies in those aged > 84 years, the weight of comorbidities in deaths was similar or lower in COVID subjects than in non-COVID subjects. Discussions: Surprisingly, the weight of comorbidities in death, compared to weight in non-COVID subjects allows you to highlight some surprising results such as COPD, IBD and Cancer. The excess mortality that we observed in the entire period were modest in comparison with initial estimates during the peak, owing to the mild influenza season and the harvesting effect starting from the second half of May.