Royal Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health, Thimphu, Bhutan.
Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2019 Jan;13(1):28-35. doi: 10.1111/irv.12605. Epub 2018 Oct 23.
Influenza burden estimates help provide evidence to support influenza prevention and control programs. In this study, we estimated influenza-associated respiratory hospitalization rates in Bhutan, a country considering influenza vaccine introduction.
Using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction laboratory results from severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance, we estimated the proportion of respiratory hospitalizations attributable to influenza each month among patients aged <5, 5-49, and ≥50 years in six Bhutanese districts for 2015 and 2016. We divided the sum of the monthly influenza-attributed hospitalizations by the total of the six district populations to generate age-specific rates for each year.
In 2015, 10% of SARI patients tested positive for influenza (64/659) and 18% tested positive (129/736) in 2016. The incidence of influenza-associated hospitalizations among all age groups was 50/100 000 persons (95% confidence interval [CI]: 45-55) in 2015 and 118/100 000 persons (95% CI: 110-127) in 2016. The highest rates were among children <5 years: 182/100 000 (95% CI: 153-210) in 2015 and 532/100 000 (95% CI: 473-591) in 2016. The second highest influenza-associated hospitalization rates were among adults ≥50 years: 110/100 000 (95% CI: 91-130) in 2015 and 193/100 000 (95% CI: 165-221) in 2016.
Influenza viruses were associated with a substantial burden of severe illness requiring hospitalization especially among children and older adults. These findings can be used to understand the potential impact of seasonal influenza vaccination in these age groups.
流感负担估计有助于为流感预防和控制计划提供证据。在这项研究中，我们估计了不丹的流感相关呼吸道住院率，该国正在考虑引入流感疫苗。
我们使用严重急性呼吸道感染（SARI）监测的实时逆转录聚合酶链反应实验室结果，估计了 2015 年和 2016 年不丹六个地区 5 岁以下、5-49 岁和≥50 岁患者中每月因流感导致的呼吸道住院比例。我们将每月流感归因于住院人数之和除以六个地区的总人口数，以生成每年的特定年龄组的住院率。
2015 年，659 例 SARI 患者中有 10%（64 例）和 2016 年 736 例中有 18%（129 例）检测出流感阳性。所有年龄组的流感相关住院发生率在 2015 年为 50/100000 人（95%置信区间 [CI]：45-55），在 2016 年为 118/100000 人（95% CI：110-127）。发病率最高的是 5 岁以下儿童：2015 年为 182/100000 人（95% CI：153-210），2016 年为 532/100000 人（95% CI：473-591）。其次是≥50 岁成年人的流感相关住院率最高：2015 年为 110/100000 人（95% CI：91-130），2016 年为 193/100000 人（95% CI：165-221）。
流感病毒与严重疾病导致住院的负担很大，特别是在儿童和老年人中。这些发现可用于了解季节性流感疫苗接种在这些年龄组中的潜在影响。
