Severe pandemic H1N1 and seasonal influenza in children and young adults with sickle cell disease

[tetano]

Blood. 2010 Jul 23. [Epub ahead of print]
Severe pandemic H1N1 and seasonal influenza in children and young adults with sickle cell disease.

Strouse JJ, Reller ME, Bundy DG, Amoako M, Cancio M, Han RN, Valsamakis A, Casella JF.

Division of Pediatric Hematology, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States;
Abstract

Influenza causes excess morbidity in sickle cell disease (SCD). H1N1 pandemic influenza has been severe in children. To compare H1N1 versus seasonal influenza in SCD (<22-year-olds), we reviewed medical records (1993-2009). We identified 123 cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza (94 seasonal; 29 H1N1). Those with seasonal influenza were younger (median 4.4 vs. 8.7 years, p=0.006) and had less asthma (24% vs. 56%, p=0.002). Those with H1N1 influenza more often had acute chest syndrome (ACS, 34% vs. 13%, p=0.01) and required intensive care (17% vs. 3%, P=0.02), including mechanical ventilation (10% vs. 0%, p=0.02). In multivariate analysis, older age [odds ratio (OR) 1.1 per year, p=0.04] and H1N1 influenza (OR 3.0, p=0.04) were associated with ACS, and older age (OR 1.1 per year, p=0.02) and prior ACS (OR 3.3 per episode in last year, p <0.006) with intensive care. Influenza, especially H1N1, causes critical illness in SCD and should be prevented.

PMID: 20656929 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20656929

 

[tetano]

Re: Severe pandemic H1N1 and seasonal influenza in children and young adults with sickle cell disease

H1N1 Flu Especially Hard On Children With Sickle Cell Disease

Children with sickle cell disease are especially hard-hit by the H1N1 flu strain, causing more life-threatening complications than the seasonal flu, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

The study's findings, published online July 23 in an early edition of the journal Blood, should be heeded as a warning call by parents and pediatricians that children with sickle cell anemia are more likely to need emergency treatment and to be hospitalized if they contract the H1N1 flu.

While H1N1 flu in the general population turned out to be much less severe than feared at the start of the 2009 pandemic, children with sickle cell disease remain at greater risk for complications from it, as well as other strains of the flu. A 2009 Hopkins Children's study found that children with sickle cell disease are hospitalized with seasonal flu nearly 80 times more often than other children.

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Other researchers include Megan Reller, M.D., M.P.H.; David Bundy, M.D., M.P. H.; Martha Amoako, B.S.; Maria Cancio, M.D.; Rachel Han, B.S.; Alexandra Valsamakis, M.D., Ph.D.; and James Casella, M.D.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Society of Hematology and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Preliminary findings from this research were first reported during the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology and published online in December 2009.

Source:
Johns Hopkins Medicine

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/199103.php