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H1N1 virus is a significant burden on years of life lost

Infection Control Weekly Monitor, March 31, 2010

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Since H1N1 has dissipated significantly, the virus seems to be out of sight and out of mind with the general public.

But a new study published in PLoS Currents: Influenza puts the effect of this virus into perspective in terms of years of life lost.

Because the H1N1 virus cut many lives short at a young age, the impact was rather significant, the authors concluded. Although CDC estimates that H1N1 killed just 12,000, which pales in comparison to the estimated 36,000 deaths annually from seasonal influenza, those 12,000 deaths were primarily children and young adults.

The H1N1 pandemic has been described as a “mild” impact and many have criticized the media and the World Health Organization for over-hyping its significance. The authors disagree.

“We believe that the use of qualitative designations such as mild, moderate and severe in describing the health impact of seasonal and pandemic influenza is insufficient, and possibly inappropriate,” the authors wrote. “This terminology describes a pandemic from a single outcome measure; namely an estimate of all direct and contributing deaths. However, the substantial difference in the age distribution of pandemic-related deaths, the number of patients requiring intensive care, and the loss to society in work productivity when a younger age population is disproportionately impacted, supports the use of alternative measures to describe the burden of influenza pandemics and compare with typical influenza seasons.”
 

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