Tweet
Utah women account for 75% of H1N1 deaths
The Salt Lake Tribune
<!--date-->Updated: 03/16/2010 10:49:30 PM MDT
<!--secondary date-->
Women and minorities were disproportionately sickened by the H1N1 flu strain in Utah.
Three-quarters of the people who died during the second wave of the virus' spread were women. And half the people hospitalized during the first wave were minorities.
But that doesn't mean gender and race are risk factors for flu complications on par with asthma or heart disease.
It could just be chance," said Rachelle Boulton, an epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health. She wrote about the disparities in a report on the 2009-10 flu season released Tuesday.
"We've looked at the cases and there isn't anything that sticks out that suggests women are more likely to die," she said.
Russ Miller, director of the respiratory intensive care unit at Intermountain Medical Center, agrees. While he noticed more women in the ICU for flu complications, he suspects it is because women are probably more likely to be admitted to the ICU for non-trauma reasons in general.
"Women live longer, long enough to come into an ICU with a medical illness as opposed to having a heart attack when they're 50 or 60," he said.
As for the higher rates of flu hospitalizations among minorities -- native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders in particular had rates four to seven times higher than whites -- Boulton believes that has more to do with geography. The initial wave of flu cases were concentrated on the west side of Salt Lake County, where many minorities live.
The way Utah minorities were affected differs from the way it affects them nationwide, where Pacific Islanders had the lowest rates of hospitalization. Nationally, American Indians/Alaska Natives were hospitalized the most.
...
Article continue at:
The Salt Lake Tribune
<!--date-->Updated: 03/16/2010 10:49:30 PM MDT
<!--secondary date-->
Women and minorities were disproportionately sickened by the H1N1 flu strain in Utah.
Three-quarters of the people who died during the second wave of the virus' spread were women. And half the people hospitalized during the first wave were minorities.
But that doesn't mean gender and race are risk factors for flu complications on par with asthma or heart disease.
It could just be chance," said Rachelle Boulton, an epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health. She wrote about the disparities in a report on the 2009-10 flu season released Tuesday.
"We've looked at the cases and there isn't anything that sticks out that suggests women are more likely to die," she said.
Russ Miller, director of the respiratory intensive care unit at Intermountain Medical Center, agrees. While he noticed more women in the ICU for flu complications, he suspects it is because women are probably more likely to be admitted to the ICU for non-trauma reasons in general.
"Women live longer, long enough to come into an ICU with a medical illness as opposed to having a heart attack when they're 50 or 60," he said.
As for the higher rates of flu hospitalizations among minorities -- native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders in particular had rates four to seven times higher than whites -- Boulton believes that has more to do with geography. The initial wave of flu cases were concentrated on the west side of Salt Lake County, where many minorities live.
The way Utah minorities were affected differs from the way it affects them nationwide, where Pacific Islanders had the lowest rates of hospitalization. Nationally, American Indians/Alaska Natives were hospitalized the most.
...
Article continue at:
