Asthma medication is most common swine flu ‘risk factor’

BEING on medication for asthma is the most common risk factor for hospitalisation due to swine flu, according to a study of the first 205 pandemic patients admitted to Irish hospitals.

The assessment also found hospitalisation rates have been shifting to younger age groups, with the highest rate initially in teenagers and currently in children under five years.

The analysis of data by members of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and public health doctors in the HSE, revealed that:

* After asthma, the most common risk factors for hospitalisation were chronic respiratory disease and immunosuppression (where the immune system is suppressed due to illness).

* The most common risk factor in admission to intensive care was chronic respiratory disease followed by chronic neurological disease, asthma and severe obesity.

* Pneumonia was the most common complication. Of 40 patients that developed pneumonia, just 17 were in a risk group.

* Hospitalisation rates were lowest in the over 65.

* 51% of hospitalised cases and 42% of ICU cases were not in a recognised risk group.

* 2 pregnant women with pandemic H1N1 influenza were hospitalised; one was in the first trimester, two in the second trimester and six in the third trimester (no data on others). Three women had risk factors other than pregnancy, including asthma, obesity, liver disease and immunosuppression.

Data on complications showed 10 people developed adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and 15 patients were ventilated.

The data, which relates from April 28 to October 3, found less than 10% of hospitalised cases (19) were admitted to ICU where the average length of stay was 24 days.

The data, published in online scientific journal Eurosurveillance, shows during the initial five months of the pandemic, four people died, one of whom did not have an underlying medical condition.

“Two were in the 15-24 year age-group, and two in the 50-59 year age-group. Three fatal cases (75%) had underlying risk factors,” says the Eurosurveillance report.

The median length of stay in hospital was two days for cases under the age of 24 years but increasing to seven days in adults over 65 years. Asthma was associated with a mean length of stay of six days.

According to the World Health Organisation, the number of swine flu deaths has grown by more than 370 over a week to pass 6,000, and the pandemic has spread into more than 199 countries and territories.