Nearly 8 percent of patients age 85 and older who are hospitalized for influenza do not survive the disease. This death rate is more than twice the 3 percent for hospitalized patients aged 65 to 84, according to a new report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Influenza, or flu, is a contagious respiratory illness caused by viruses. Flu kills more than 36,000 Americans each year and afflicts between 5 and 20 percent of the U.S. population, according to Federal estimates. Experts endorse vaccinations though November and December since most flu activity occurs in January or later in most years.
The study also concluded that:
These statistics are from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of hospital inpatient stays that is nationally representative of all short-term, non-Federal hospitals. The data are drawn from hospitals that comprise 90 percent of all discharges in the United States and include all patients, regardless of insurance type as well as the uninsured. For more data, go to Hospital Stays for Influenza, 2004: HCUP Statistical Brief #16, at http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs.jsp.