Burden of Influenza and Influenza-Associated Pneumonia in the First Year of Life in a Prospective Cohort Study in Managua, Nicaragua

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Pediatr Infect Dis J
• Personal Author:
  Gresh, Lionel ; Kuan, Guillermina ; Sanchez, Nery ; Azziz-Baumgartner, Eduardo ; Ojeda, Sergio ; Melendez, Marlon ; Lopez, Roger ; Martin, Emily T. ; Widdowson, Marc-Alain ; Bresee, Joseph ; Harris, Eva ; Balmaseda, Angel ; Gordon, Aubree
• Description:
  Background
  
  Influenza is a major public health problem worldwide; however, relatively little is known about influenza in tropical regions, especially for infants. Additional information is required to inform public health policy-making, in particular vaccination guidelines.
  
  Methods
  
  Between September 2011 and July 2013, we enrolled newborns into the Nicaraguan Birth Cohort Study. Infants were provided primary medical care and actively followed for RT-PCR-confirmed influenza virus infection when presenting with influenza-like illness or undifferentiated fever. This report presents data pertaining to the first year of life.
  
  Results
  
  Of the 518 children enrolled in the study, 441 participated throughout their first year of life, 71 were withdrawn, and 6 died. Overall, 13% of the participants experienced at least one laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection. The overall incidence of influenza was 15.5 cases per 100 person-years (95% CI: 12.2, 19.5). Infants aged 6–11 months experienced significantly higher rates of laboratory-confirmed influenza than infants aged 0–5 months (incidence rate ratio 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3, 3.4). The overall incidence of pneumonia was 52.6 cases per 100 person-years (95% CI: 46.3, 59.6). Three percent of the pneumonia cases were influenza-associated, and the incidence of influenza-associated pneumonia and hospitalization was 1.7 (95% CI: 0.9, 3.5) and 0.22 (95% CI: 0.03, 1.55) cases per 100 person-years, respectively.
  
  Conclusions
  
  We found a significant burden of influenza and influenza-associated severe respiratory outcomes in infants. Our results support the need to explore the potential value of vaccinating pregnant women and infants aged >6 months, as recommended by the World Health Organization in 2012.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Female Hospitalization Humans Incidence Infant Infant, Newborn Influenza, Human Male Nicaragua Pneumonia, Bacterial Pregnancy Prospective Studies

  More +
• Keywords:
  Cohort Studies Hospitalization Infant Influenza Pneumonia
• Source:
  Pediatr Infect Dis J. 35(2):152-156
• Pubmed ID:
  26421805
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4711382
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  K02 TW009483/TW/FIC NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 GH000028/GH/CGH CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  35
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:4b809d2e21494c538b9beda859153720858868a4d992651b6db0da8619211a97
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/37537/cdc_37537_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 260.07 KB ]