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Global burden of influenza lower respiratory tract infections in older people from 1990 to 2019

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Abstract

Background

Infections with influenza viruses cause severe illness, substantial number of hospitalization and death, especially in older adults. However, few studies have focused on the burden of influenza lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) solely in older adults, particularly in low-resource settings.

Aims

We aimed to estimate the mortality and DALYs of influenza LRTIs for people aged 55 years and older in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019.

Methods

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study was used to obtain data on mortality and DALYs of influenza LRTIs at the global, regional, and country levels.

Results

In 2019, the global rates for mortality and DALYs of influenza LRTIs were 6.46 per 100,000 [95% uncertainty interval (UI): 2.37–12.62] and 97.39 per 100,000 (95% UI: 34.70–187.03). Although the rates for mortality and DALYs in people aged 55 years and older decreased from 1990 to 2019, the absolute numbers for both increased by 85.84% and 66.56%, respectively. Both the absolute numbers and rates of deaths and DALYs of influenza LRTIs were higher in male than in female in all age groups. Although low-socio-demographic index (SDI) regions experienced the largest declines for the rates of mortality and DALYs of influenza LRTIs over the past three decades, they still had the highest rates for mortality and DALYs in all age groups. Moreover, the absolute numbers and rates of deaths and DALYs of influenza LRTIs showed an increasing trend with age, reaching the peak in the people over 85 years old.

Discussion

Burden of influenza LRTIs in older adults is still high and could continue to grow along with global aging.

Conclusion

Efforts to improve vaccination for influenza are needed for preparedness of another influenza pandemic, especially in low-SDI regions.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available on Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2019 website. (http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool).

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Funding

This work was supported by Peking University Medicine Fund for world’s leading discipline or discipline cluster development, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 81973146 and 82204157) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2022M710251 and 2023T160032). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Jing-Nan Feng, Hou-Yu Zhao & Si-Yan Zhan

  2. Key Laboratory of Epidemiology of Major Diseases (Peking University), Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

    Jing-Nan Feng, Hou-Yu Zhao & Si-Yan Zhan

  3. Research Center of Clinical Epidemiology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China

    Si-Yan Zhan

  4. Center for Intelligent Public Health, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Si-Yan Zhan

Authors
  1. Jing-Nan Feng
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Contributions

All authors had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Conceptualization: SYZ; data curation: JNF; formal analysis: JNF; funding acquisition: SYZ; investigation: SYZ; methodology: JNF, HYZ; project administration: SYZ; resources: JNF; software: JNF; supervision: SYZ; validation: HYZ; visualization: JNF; roles/writing—original draft: JNF; writing—review and editing: SYZ, HYZ.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Si-Yan Zhan.

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Feng, JN., Zhao, HY. & Zhan, SY. Global burden of influenza lower respiratory tract infections in older people from 1990 to 2019. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 2739–2749 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02553-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02553-1

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