Most people killed by swine flu 'had no underlying health problems'

Published on Monday 12 July 2010 15:13

MORE than half of those killed by swine flu or admitted to hospital with the disease were previously considered to be healthy, new figures have revealed.

A total of 59 per cent of the in-patient deaths from the virus were people with no underlying health conditions, according to the UK-wide study.

Research taken from the first wave of the swine flu pandemic also showed 55 per cent of patients hospitalised by swine flu were not previously living with health problems, such as asthma or breathing difficulties.

The study said more needed to be done to monitor the conditions of swine flu victims once they had been admitted to hospital, such as ensuring those with an illness comparable to flu had a chest X-ray.

The researchers, from Imperial College London, focused on the period between 27 April and 30 September last year, when statistics were collected on 631 people hospitalised with swine flu across the UK. Their ages ranged from three months to 90 years, with 36 per cent under 16 and one in 20 aged 65 and older. Those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds made up more than 60 per cent of admissions.

The figures also showed a total of 27 patients were pregnant, representing 4 per cent of admissions and 18 per cent of all women patients aged between 16 and 44 - suggesting pregnant women were about three times as likely as those not expecting a baby to need hospital admission once infected with swine flu.

Another key finding was that two days normally went by before the onset of swine flu symptoms and then patient's admission to hospital.

The most commonly recorded symptoms were fever and cough, in both adults and children, according to the study.

But about one in four adults and children did not have a fever on admission, and more than half did not have a high fever, prompting the researchers to question the wisdom of using a high fever as a key symptom of swine flu infection.

The figures, published in the journal Thorax, were released after it emerged the UK spent 587 million on drugs to tackle the swine flu pandemic.

Contracts were signed with pharmaceutical firms such as GlaxoSmithKline to supply the vaccines across the country though large numbers remained unused after the virus turned out to be less serious than initially feared.

Jabs against the potentially deadly virus were given to people in the priority groups such as asthma sufferers, heart attack victims, pregnant women, children under five and those with serious long-term respiratory conditions.

The Scottish Government claimed the new study backed prioritising groups such as pregnant women for the vaccine.

Ministers also said their vaccination programme against swine flu had been a success and that the majority of people who died from swine flu in Scotland during the six month period covered by the study had been living with underlying health conditions,

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Scotland's vaccination programme was based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation - the experts who advise all four UK countries on all vaccination-related matters.

"Decisions were made on the best available clinical evidence and, as new information emerged, the programme was adapted - right up to and after vaccinations started.

"This study backs the policy of prioritising pregnant women, under fives and those with long-term respiratory problems for vaccination. Of the nine confirmed H1N1 deaths in Scotland between May and September last year, seven were of people who were known to have underlying health conditions."

There were 457 deaths linked to swine flu in the UK, with 69 of them coming in Scotland, where a further 1,542 people were hospitalised.

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AT-RISK GROUPS

THE study said that those people classed as having underlying health problems were mainly asthma sufferers.

Others placed in that category included people who were "obese or with any underlying serious breathing and respiratory conditions".

Heart attack and stroke victims were included in the list of the groups at risk, as were people with cancer and other life-threatening conditions.

Patients with high blood pressure and those with temperature problems were also included, along with people who had a history of suffering from serious flu viruses.x