Educational Series: Burden of Influenza in Older Adults and Importance of Immunisation
Disease burden attributable to influenza is substantial in older adults, characterised by high rates of hospitalisation, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and death in adults aged ≥65 years and with these outcomes worsening with increasing age. Older adults are at higher risk of severe influenza illness and serious complications due to the presence of comorbidities, which exacerbate the course of illness, and an age-associated decline in immunocompetence, which reduces immunity to influenza virus infection. In addition, increasing evidence indicates a non-respiratory disease burden of influenza. This ‘hidden’ burden includes exacerbation of underlying conditions, secondary
Expert contributor
Dr Xaviour Walker
Xaviour Walker is a consultant geriatrician and internal medicine physician at Dunedin Hospital, Te Whatu Ora Southern and honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Otago. He is a graduate of the University of Otago Medical School and completed his post graduate medical training from Harvard, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he also received […]
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