Description

Author information:
1. Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), Guatemala Ciudad, Guatemala.
2. U.S. CDC Regional Office for Central America Region (CDC-CAR), Guatemala Ciudad, Guatemala.
3. Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS), San José, Costa Rica.
4. Ministerio de Salud Pública y Asistencia Social de Guatemala (MSPAS), Guatemala Ciudad, Guatemala.
5. Ministerio de Salud de El Salvador (MINSAL), San Salvador, El Salvador.
6. Secretaría de Salud de Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
7. Ministerio de Salud de Nicaragua (MINSA), Managua, Nicaragua.
8. Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA.
9. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, USA.

OBJECTIVES:
Our objective was to estimate the incidence of influenza-associated hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths in Central American Region.
DESIGN AND SETTING:
We used hospital discharge records, influenza surveillance virology data, and population projections collected from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua to estimate influenza-associated hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths. We performed a meta-analysis of influenza-associated hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
The highest annual incidence was observed among children aged <5 years (136 influenza-associated hospitalizations per 100 000 persons).
RESULTS:
Annually, 7 625-11 289 influenza-associated hospitalizations and 352-594 deaths occurred in the subregion.
CONCLUSIONS:
Our results suggest that a substantive number of persons are annually hospitalized because of influenza. Health officials should estimate how many illnesses could be averted through increased influenza vaccination.

© 2016 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PMCID: PMC4910178 Free PMC Article
PMID: 26946216 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Publication type
• Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
• Adolescent
• Adult
• Central America/epidemiology
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Hospitalization/economics*
• Humans
• Infant
• Influenza, Human/economics*
• Influenza, Human/epidemiology
• Influenza, Human/mortality*
• Influenza, Human/therapy
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Young Adult